Member Article

Purplebricks: House prices in Birmingham & Leeds outperforming Northern Powerhouse

Average house prices across England’s Northern Powerhouse increased by 0.7% in the month to March 2023.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the average asking price across the Northern Powerhouse area rose by 0.7% to £253,710 in March 2023, which is £1,776 higher than the month before.

Average house prices increased over the month to £279,920 in Birmingham (1.4%), £251,420 in Manchester (0.7%), £246,836 in Sheffield (0.5%), and £225,205 in Hull (0.2%).

House prices rose furthest in Leeds, hitting £253,920 (1.8%).

However, falls were recorded in Newcastle, which saw a -0.2% drop to £180,288 and Liverpool, where prices fell -0.1% to £251,900.

Vincent Courtney, the chief sales officer at Purplebricks said, “The nightmare of the Truss-Kwarteng mini budget is finally receding. We’d always expect prices to rise to a degree in March but the property markets in Birmingham and Leeds not only are out-performing the wider Northern Powerhouse, they’re outperforming our expectations. We saw increased volatility in financial institutions in the US and other territories but the news about Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank HSBC, Credit Suisse and UBS didn’t hold back the positive momentum in the residential property market.

“It helps that the mortgage market is going in the right direction, too. We’ve noticed two things. The first is that there are more mortgages about. March saw a total of 4,372 products on the market according to Moneyfacts. That’s the largest number of mortgage products on the market since August 2022. More choice and competition is good for borrowers and therefore sellers — we are a long way from last autumn when the mini-budget saw a period of mass mortgage withdrawals. In October 2022, there were only 2,258 mortgages to choose from so the options available to borrowers have almost doubled. Second, the latest UK Mortgage Trends Treasury Report data shows average two- and five-year fixed rates fell month-on month for the fourth month running, down to 5.32% and 5.00% respectively, now both at their lowest level in six months.

“The news that the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted to increase the Bank Rate to 4.25% — the 11th consecutive rise — wasn’t great and that may have hit sentiment in Newcastle and Liverpool. UK inflation is predicted to fall to 2.9% by the end of the year and that should take pressure off the Bank, improving sentiment across the board.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Raoul Duke .