Bradford house prices plummet as north-south divide widens

Nationwide building society said property prices in Bradford plummeted by nine per cent - a figure rivalled only by Manchester.

The study also found evidence that the north/south divide in England is widening, with the price of a typical home in the south now standing at a new high of around £95,000 more than in the north, representing a 2% increase compared with the end of 2011.

Across the UK, house prices fell by 0.1% month-on-month in December and they are likely to remain flat or edge lower still during 2013, Nationwide predicts.

Eleven out of 13 UK regions saw annual prices fall during 2012. London recorded the strongest house price increase of all the regions, with prices up by 0.7% at the end of 2012 compared with a year earlier.

The South West was the only other region to record a price increase over the year with a 0.2% rise, while Yorkshire and Humberside was the weakest-performing English region, as prices edged down by 2.5% over the year.

Prices held up better in the south of England, where they remained flat over the year, while in the north and midlands they dropped by 1.4%.

Cambridge was named as the best-performing area among England’s major towns and cities, while Bradford was the worst-performing.

Meanwhile, across Northern Ireland, house prices have fallen to similar levels to those seen in 2004, Nationwide said.

Analysts have put the sharp falls in Northern Ireland down to the market re-adjusting following a period of particularly strong increases before the financial crisis struck.

Matthew Pointon, a property economist at Capital Economics, said that 2013 is unlikely to be a better year for the housing market, with unemployment predicted to rise and the squeeze on household incomes set to continue.

He said: “The housing market in 2013 is unlikely to perform any better than in 2012. If anything, with the risks still firmly on the downside, a slightly larger fall of around 5% in prices is to be expected.”

Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist for IHS Global Insight, also said that any significant turnaround in the market is “unlikely to occur in 2013” and prices will be held down by limited potential buyer numbers.

Here are the best-performing towns and cities of 2012, with the annual percentage increase and the average price:

1. Cambridge, 6%, £336,667

2. Coventry, 3%, £165,100

3. St Albans, 3%, £373,534

4. Brighton, 2%, £310,981

5. Norwich, 2%, £187,562

And here are the worst-performing towns and cities, with the annual percentage decrease and the average price:

1. Bradford, minus 9%, £145,478

2. Manchester, minus 9%, £171,830

3. Belfast, minus 8%, £149,604

4. Liverpool, minus 8%, £144,050

5. Plymouth, minus 7%, £167,450

Here are the annual percentage changes in house prices across the regions and the average house price:

• London, £300,361, 0.7%

• South West, £184,625, 0.2%

• Outer South East, £198,009, minus 0.2%

• Outer Metropolitan, £246,453, minus 0.2%

• West Midlands, £144,972, minus 0.8%

• East Midlands, £138,486, minus 0.8%

• North, £114,264, minus 1.3%

• North West, £133,253, minus 1.6%

• East Anglia, £164,701, minus 1.9%

• Yorkshire and Humberside, £131,046, minus 2.5%

• Wales, £131,630, minus 2.7%

• Scotland, £131,795, minus 3.3%

• Northern Ireland, £104,282, minus 8.2%