Why Bradford is a top choice for homebuyers in 2025, during its UK City of Culture year

While there are still projects to finish off and a new operator to find for Bradford Live after NEC Group quit last September, the city is playing the long game and hoping that investments made as part of its year in the spotlight will reap the rewards well into the future.

This year 15.5m people are expected to pay a visit, bringing an extra spending of £136.9m into the local economy over the year.

City of Culture also aims to deliver thousands of jobs in a city where 34 per cent of the population is under 25.

All of this should be positive news for the property market and estate agents are hoping it will attract investors to Bradford and boost its house prices.

The average house price in Bradford in 2024 was £164,518, according to Rightmove, similar to the previous year and two per cent up on the 2022 peak of £161,225.

The majority of properties sold in the over the last year have been terraced houses, selling for an average price of £127,326.

Semi-detached properties sold for an average of £178,703, with detached properties fetching £295,462.

The stone-built, detached residence was designed and built for Alfred Wallis, a local mill owner.

John Watts, managing director of Robert Watts estate agents, inset, says: “When we won the bid we were really pleased because it’s going to entice investors. We get a lot of London investors looking at buy-to-let in Bradford because the values are very favourable to them and they get great returns. The buzz from the City of Culture can only help that.”

Steve Potts, director at Dacre, Son & Hartley’s Bingley office, adds: “By highlighting Bradford city centre, it’s outlying villages, the architecture and everything else that’s there, we’re all hopeful that the City of Culture will bring people into the area.”

Robert Watts specialises in selling homes below £250,000. It sold 700 homes across its four branches in Wibsey, Five Lane Ends, Birkenshaw and Cleckheaton in 2024 and 44 per cent of those sales were between £150,000 and £250,000.

The BD12 area, which incorporates Low Moor, Oakenshaw and Wyke, has also become more popular for house hunters since Low Moor Station opened in 2018.

“The market’s excellent from our point of view. Last year was one of our best on record for number of sales,” says John.

"We were concerned that as prices were rising and interest rates were rising it was going to stall the market but it hasn’t. It’s very positive and people are still buying.”

Birkenshaw and the north Bradford suburbs of Thackley, Idle, Greengates are particularly popular as well as Queensbury, Thornton on the west side of the city.

According to John, most areas of the property market are moving, including first time buyers, upsizers, downsizers and those relocating for work and family reasons.

It’s primarily a local market with most of its clients live within a three-to-five mile radius of its branches. "The only exception to that is the Birkenshaw office which sees a lot of Leeds buyers because it’s only five miles from Leeds city centre and it’s a bit cheaper,” he says.

Buy-to-let investors are also active. “We’ve sold an awful lot of properties to buy-to-let investors recently,” he says.

However, like many other places, the top end of the market is quieter at the moment. Robert Watts has a Signature Homes division for properties over £500,000, which accounted for only five per cent of the firm’s sales last year.

“It’s the first part of the market that has slowed down with people not able to buy and sell at that sort of level,” says John.

"With high interest rates, mortgage payments are a lot higher and there are a lot of people who bought properties three-to-five years ago on a very low fixed rate, which has now expired. I feel there are fewer buyers at the top end of the market at the moment.”

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Glenholme Park in Clayton, a Grade II listed 11 bedroom property that dates back to the 1880s recently saw a price reduction from £1.5m to £1.3m after going on the market with Whitney’s last September.

Steve agrees that the top end of the market is slower but adds that people are still viewing those properties.

"The difficulty we’ve got is there are a lot of chains. People are getting interest but those people have also got a house to sell,” he says.

Dacre, Son & Hartley covers properties across the Aire Valley in Bingley, Baildon and Saltaire, ranging in value from £40,000 to £1.5m, and is seeing a wide range of buyers across the market.

“All the village locations are very popular for varying reasons but typically it’s because of the transport links,” says Steve. “People will position themselves depending on where they need to be, whether it be train, road or rail.”