North/South housing divide takes '˜rare turn' in region's favour

THE COST of buying a home in Yorkshire is bucking the national trend, with the region one of just two areas in the country to see a rise in asking prices this month.
The average asking price of a house nationally fell by £3,600 in August - but Yorkshire and Humber bucked the trend.
Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA WireThe average asking price of a house nationally fell by £3,600 in August - but Yorkshire and Humber bucked the trend.
Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire
The average asking price of a house nationally fell by £3,600 in August - but Yorkshire and Humber bucked the trend. Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire

The average price tag on a home fell by £3,600 in August as “Brexit uncertainty” combined with the summer holiday slowdown hit, property website Rightmove said.

The month-by-month fall in the price of property coming to market took the average asking price across England and Wales to £304,222 in August.

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The biggest fall was in London, where prices dropped by 2.6 per cent this month, compared to 1.2 per cent nationally - a figure Rightmove said was consistent with the average decreases seen during the summer holidays.

Yorkshire and Humber and the West Midlands were the only regions to buck the trend of a month-on-month asking price fall, with increases of 1.2 per cent and 1.1 per cent respectively.

The research comes two weeks after think tank the Resolution Foundation warned that cities in the north face being saddled with a housing crisis akin to that of London, as home ownership levels across Yorkshire plummet.

A report showed sharp drops in ownership in the region’s biggest cities, Leeds and Sheffield, resulting in West and South Yorkshire experiencing double digit falls since their early 2000s peak.

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Rightmove has predicted 2016 will be a “year of two halves” for the housing market, with a surge in buyers already seen in the first half of the year as buy-to-let investors rushed to beat a stamp duty hike imposed on April 1. Many purchases were brought forward which might otherwise have taken place later in the year.

Miles Shipside, director at Rightmove, said: “Many prospective buyers take a summer break from home-hunting, and those who come to market at this quieter time of year tend to price more aggressively. This summer is also affected by both Brexit uncertainty and the aftermath of the buy-to-let rush in March to beat the stamp duty deadline.”

Larger family-sized homes with four bedrooms or more would benefit the most from any autumn pick-up in activity, Rightmove said. These properties are taking an average of 74 days to sell, while smaller homes favoured by first-time buyers and people taking their second step on the property ladder are typically taking just 58 days to be snapped up.

Rightmove said the southern regions, which tend to be influenced by the London market, have seen bigger jumps in the length of time it takes to sell a property than northern regions over the last couple of months.

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The time it takes to sell a home in London increased by five days between May and July, while in the South East and the South West it increased by four days.

While the average number of days it takes to sell a property is still generally longer in the North than in the South, all of the northern regions have seen either no change in the average length of time to sell or just a day plus or minus over the same period.

Mr Shipside said: “It will be welcome news for some northerners that the traditional North-South divide may be taking a rare turn in their favour.”

He added: “Having waited for the referendum result, it now seems that some are also waiting until the summer holidays are over before reviewing their course of action.”