UK house prices: a regional breakdown
England
House prices fell by 14.8% in England last year, with the last three months of the year seeing a 4.8% decline. Homeowners in East Anglia saw the biggest fall in the value of their homes, with prices dropping by 16.6% over the year to an average of £153,080.
London and its surrounding regions also took a hammering as affordability pressures and job losses took their toll. Prices in the capital fell by more than 15%, although Nationwide said the falls had not reached the pace of the early 1990s crash when it recorded an annual fall of 16.7%. London remains the most expensive place to buy a home in England with an average price of £257,963, compared to a country-wide average of £171,924.
Four out of five of the British cities that saw the largest price falls were in England, with Bristol, Bradford, Northampton and Norwich all recording a 17% drop.
Asked about the prospects for house prices over the next six months, consumers told Nationwide they expected to see falls across England, with the largest drop - 6.2% - expected in the West Midlands. Nationwide’s chief economist, Fionnuala Earley, said: “Consumers’ views about the direction of house prices generally seem to concur with other macroeconomic data, although the relative magnitude of changes recorded are a little mixed.
“Within England, London and the south-east might expect to be affected badly due to the combination of an employment shake-out in the financial sector and stretched affordability relative to other regions.”
Northern Ireland
After two years of massive growth, a correction in Northern Ireland was on the cards in 2008, and it came when prices dropped by a staggering 34.2% over the year, according to Nationwide.
At the start of the year the average house price in the region was £224,816; by the end of the year it was £147,833. Perhaps unsurprisingly Belfast is top of the list of biggest fallers, recording a 33% drop over the last 12 months. However, houses in the city are still much more expensive than the rest of Northern Ireland - and the UK as a whole - costing an average £203,942.
Across Northern Ireland the rate of price falls slowed as the year went on, with prices dropping by 7.4% in the last quarter of the year following three quarters of double-digit drops.
A survey of consumers in Northern Ireland found that while 9% of people expected prices to increase in the next six months, the average expectation was a 6.9% fall in values. Earley said: “Realistically one might expect Northern Ireland to remain the worst affected region in 2009, given the especially severe overshoot of house prices relative to earnings in the province during the boom years.”
Scotland
Of all the UK regions Scotland saw the smallest fall in house prices last year with a decline of 8.1%, according to Nationwide. During the final quarter of the year prices actually rose, albeit it by just 0.1%, making it the only UK region to see a rise in prices last year. The average price of a home in Scotland is now £138,941, compared with £151,178 at the end of 2007.
Of the three main cities in Scotland, Aberdeen saw the largest annual fall of 11%, closely followed by Glasgow at 10%. In Edinburgh, where prices are highest, values fell by just 6%. For the second quarter running the largest year-on-year fall was in Renfrewshire and Inverclyde where prices were down by 15%.
Nationwide’s consumer survey found Scotland was the most optimistic part of the UK with 11% of people believing prices will increase in the next six months. It was the only part of the UK where fewer than half of those questioned said they expected prices to fall.
Wales
Across Wales house prices fell by 12.1% in 2008, reducing the average price of a home to £136,174, according to Nationwide. In the last quarter of the year prices dropped by 2.4%, less than the 4.4% fall seen across the UK as a whole. Prices have fallen in every region of Wales, but some have been harder hit than others. In the south-east Nationwide said prices were down by 20% at the end of the year, while in the north and south-west falls were below 10%.
Despite a 10% decline in prices over the year, Cardiff remains the most expensive place to buy with an average price of £188,089. The cheapest area is south Wales (east) where the average house price has fallen to £141,654.
Consumers questioned by Nationwide said they expected prices to fall by an average of 6.3% over the next six months. The society said: “A continued fall in prices in Wales seems likely given economic conditions. Business surveys suggest a sharp reduction in the private sector workforce in Wales as output has fallen. However, the larger proportion of public sector employment in Wales is likely to protect it somewhat and help support the housing market relative to other regions.”
Top city fallers
Belfast: prices down 33% on Q4 of 2007 to £203,942
Bristol: Prices down 17% to £199,587
Bradford: prices down 17% to £144,881
Northampton: prices down 17% to £156,425
Norwich: prices down 17% to £169,898
Lowest city fallers
Durham: prices down 4% on Q4 of 2007 to £147,188
Edinburgh: prices down 6% to £241,617
Leicester: prices down 7% to £154,787
Birmingham: prices down 9% to £164,939
Newcastle: prices down 9% to £162,863
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Need a Loan? Visit Secured Loans Broker.
