Living near one of the UK’s alleged most haunted houses may feel like a risk when Halloween comes creeping, but living near spooky homes and buildings does not seem to have harmed price over the past 10 years.
New research from lender the Halifax shows that house prices near York’s Treasurers House, said to be haunted by the ghosts of Roman soldiers, have grown by 150%, from an average of £203,348 in 2009, to £508,003 in 2019.
Properties near Ham House, Richmond, with its numerous reported ghostly sightings, have seen house prices risen by 97% over the last decade, with local house prices topping £1,139,765.
Prices near Hampton Court Palace, where the ghosts of Jane Seymour and Catherine Howards, both once married to King Henry VIII, are said to roam the grounds, have seen an increase of 72% since 2009.
Houses near Baddesley Clinton, a 500 year old estate near Solihull, have the greatest premium compared to the West Midland’s county average, suggesting, at 153%, this is more than a phantom anomaly. Local residents might expect to see the ‘Lady in Grey’, a floating portrait, and plates inexplicably falling to the ground.
But it is not always the case. Dover Castle is rumoured to be one of Britain’s most haunted sites, with gruesome sightings including a headless body but while house prices in Dover have increased by 49% over the past 10 years, they remain 35% lower than the Kent average.
Houses surrounding the spooky sites such as Dunster Castle in Minehead, Borley Rectory in Sudbury, Jamaica Inn in Cornwall, Woodchester Mansion in Stonehouse, the Tower of London in the capital and Speke Hall in Liverpool are also cheaper on average than the wider surrounding equivalent.
