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North East house prices flat in February

• Prices rise 0.1% over past four weeks – £203 in cash terms. • House prices up 4.3% year on year – equivalent to £5609 • Seaham, Whitburn, Darlington and South Shields performs best over past month • Byth, Houghton-le-Spring and Peterlee perform poorest. • Rents rise £3 to £589pcm – but are 6% up year-on-year. • Rental yields in region 25% higher than London

There were mixed results for North East house prices in February, with property values in some areas recovering from their slow start to 2017 and others areas continuing to slide.

Analysis from local property firm KIS shows that across the region, prices are practically unchanged over the past four weeks – rising by 0.1% or £203 in cash terms.

This compares with a fall of 3.1% in January which saw £5200 wiped from the value of an average North East home.

A typical North East home will currently cost you £163,794 – 4.3% higher and £5609 more than figures recorded in February 2016.

There was more volatility from area to area with above average rises in Seaham (1.7%), Whitburn (1.5%), Darlington (1.4%) and South Shields (1.3%).

Nine of the 20 areas surveyed saw prices fall – including Blyth (-2.9%) Houghton-le-Spring (-1.2%) and Peterlee (-1.1%)

Properties in Killingworth continue to have performed the strongest over the past twelve months and are currently 6.9% higher than those recorded in January 2016. Other strong performers in this period include Tynemouth (6.8%) and North Shields (6.2%). Prices in Peterlee (-2.8% and Blyth (-0.2%) have fallen over the past 12 months.

North East rents rose marginally to £589 in February, a rise of £3 over the past four weeks.

Rents in the region are however £34 more per calendar month than this time last year – a rise of 6.1%.

Rental yields remained the same – with property investors continuing to get an average return on their investment of 4.3%.

This means investors in North East property are currently seeing returns on their investment 25% higher than London (average yield 3.2%) and almost double those in Cambridge (2.3%).

Blyth (£418pcm) is currently the cheapest place to rent in the North East out of the areas surveyed, while Tynemouth (£993pcm) this month’s most expensive.

Peterlee continues to be the region’s Buy to Let Capital, with an average return of 6% for investors. Other strong performers for rental yield include Newcastle and Gateshead (5.6%) Seaham and Easington (4.9%) and Durham City (4.8%).

Yields in Newcastle and Gateshead are level pegging again after Newcastle recorded a higher rental yield than it’s near neighbour for the first time on record in January.

Regional yields are 0.1% higher than they were this time last year with Jarrow (0.4%) and Blyth (0.3%) seeing the biggest rises over the past 12 months.

Ajay Jagota, founder and Managing Director of local sales and lettings firm KIS Group and founder of Dlighted, an insurance-backed deposit-free renting solution which drastically reduces the costs for tenants finding and moving homes whilst still protecting both agents and landlords against damage, responded to the figures.

He said: “With a budget just around the corner and the government intending to trigger Article 50 at the end of March it’s pretty predictable property buyers and sellers alike are adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach for the time being.

“It’s fascinating that although house prices across the region were static as a whole house prices behaved markedly differently in the different halves of our region.

“With the exception of Blyth, prices followed the regional trend of stability North of the Tyne. In the South, there was a lot more volatility – with property values noticeably exceeding regional growth in places like Seaham, Whitburn and Darlington, but bucking the North East trend by falling in Houghton-le-Spring and Peterlee.

“From a buy to let perspective, the North East continues to perform strongly, offering returns for investors which are on average 25% higher than London, and as good as twice as strong as perceived investor hotspots like Cambridge.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ajay Jagota .