Member Article

Brexit boost for North East homes

• Regional house prices rise 4.8% in last 4 weeks – adding £8500 to value of North East home

• Durham City sees prices rise 9%, Tynemouth 7.6%.

• The average North East house is now valued at £165,039 – an annual rise of 6.5%

• Average rents rise £10 a month to £588 – 4% higher than June 2015.

North East house prices have enjoyed a Brexit boost, performing strongly in the run-up to and aftermath of the referendum over the UK’s EU membership.

Research from North East sales and lettings firm KIS reveals property prices in the region rose 4.8% over the past four weeks, adding £8604 to the value of the typical home.

The rise follows a rise of 0.4% recorded in May and means that house prices across the region are now positive over the course of 2016, having fallen by 3.1% in January and 4% in April.

The average North East house is now valued at £165,039 with prices 6.5% higher than those recorded in June 2015.

House values grew in every single one of the twenty areas surveyed, with rises ranging from 0.7% in Gateshead to 9% in Durham City.

The strongest areas for growth included Tynemouth (7.6%), North Shields (7.5%) and Killingworth (7.2%)

The former is named this month’s “Best to Buy” due to its year-on-year capital appreciation of 12.5%, the region’s highest. Other strong performers over the past 12 months are North Shields and Houghton-le-Spring (+10.8%). Prices in Jarrow have fallen 0.8% in the same period.

The average North East rent rose £10 per calendar month to £580pcm in June - a rise of rise of 1.7%.

Rents in the region are now £28 a month dearer than March and have grown by 4% year on year, rising from £565 in May 2015.

Blyth (£406) remains the cheapest place to rent in the North East out of the areas surveyed, with Tynemouth (£1071) continuing to be the most expensive.

Peterlee continues to be the region’s Buy to Let capital, offering rental yields of 6.3% to investors, 0.2% higher than four weeks ago. Other strong performers continue to be Gateshead (5.7%, up 0.3%), Sunderland (5.3%) and Newcastle (4.1%).

Landlords in Morpeth and Darlington, however, can expect to see returns on their investment of just 3.5% - although yields in the former are 0.4% up on four weeks ago.

The rising property prices mean the average North East rental yield falls back 0.1% to 4.3% - still up 0.3% above levels recorded at the end of the last financial quarter.

Gateshead’s comparatively flat house prices and traditionally strong rental performance see it named this month’s “Best to Invest”.

42% of homes in the Gateshead local authority area are semi-detached, slightly higher than the regional average of 39%. A further 26% of properties are terraced, and 17% flats.

58% of homes are owner-occupied, slightly lower than the regional average of 61%. 28% of homes are socially rented (regional average 23%) and 12% of homes are privately rented (regional average 13%).

Property Expert Ajay Jagota is founder and Managing Director of North-East based sales and lettings firm KIS and creator of D-lighted, a deposit replacement insurance for private renters.

He said:

“If you listened to the way some people have been banging on in the media you’d be forgiven for expecting the Brexit vote to have had an apocalyptic impact on the North East and national housing market. But these figures prove just how wrong they were, and to me that’s no surprise at all.

“I don’t believe there is a financial crisis around the corner and never have. Of course we saw some pretty unprecedented market volatility in the aftermath of the Brexit vote itself, but thankfully the markets have now calmed down and my prediction is from herein we can expect to see not just continuing growth but the region’s largest gains for some time.

“Buyers and sellers traditionally put off big decisions when there is electoral uncertainty and that’s bound to have happened in recent months. But we still saw prices rising by more than seven percent in places like Tynemouth, North Shields and Killingworth. Imagine what’s possible now that uncertainty is over.

“Of course we need to be aware of the impact a financial crisis could have on the regional housing market, unlikely as it looks to me. North East house prices only returned to their pre-financial crisis levels in 2014. But rising rents and stable returns are likely to have been a driving force behind this month’s growth, with anecdotal evidence continuing to suggest that the region is continuing to emerge as a destination of choice for national property investors.

“If this is the case, the region’s property prices would be more insulated from any financial shocks than last time around, even in the unlikely event they even existed”.

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