With a lot of talk about whether or not Brexit is affecting the property market in Britain, a new study has looked at where it might, or might not, be having an effect.
It has found that East Staffordshire has the most Brexit proof housing market with the average property price up by 10% in 2018, four times faster than the UK average of 2.5%.
The analysis from national buying agents Garrington suggest that it is due to the area’s robust economy, with local employment growing by 9.4% in 2018, almost eight times faster than the national rate of 1.2%.
Next was Rochadale with price growth of 8.7%, followed by Derby up 7.7%, Salford up 6.9%, Bassetlaw in the East Midlands up 6.8%, Nottingham up 5.8%, Cardiff up 5%, Lincoln up 4.6%, Sheffield up 4.4% and Liverpool up 3.8%.
Meanwhile the top hotspot for would-be landlords is Ceredigion, where average rents rose by 8.7% in 2018, nearly nine times the UK average rise of 1%. The report points out that the Welsh county has a large student population in the university town of Aberystwyth where there is a strong potential yield of landlords of 6.2%.
Next is Lincoln where rents have increased by 8.7% and the city has an average rental yield of 6.2%, then Hillingdon in London with a 7.5% rent rise and a yield of 4%, followed by Nottingham with a rent rise of 7% and a yield of 6.3%, and then Gloucester with rent up 6.4% and a yield of 5.3%.
‘While at a national level the property market is cooling with the number of transactions slipping and average prices rising at the slowest pace for five years, a number of hot micro markets have emerged that completely buck the trend,’ said Jonathan Hopper, Garrington managing director.
‘The Midlands has long since eclipsed London and East Anglia as the region with the fastest rising house prices, and our analysis picks out the emerging hotspots that enjoy the best combination of Brexit defying economic momentum, good affordability and, above all, strong future growth potential,’ he explained.
‘The prime neighbourhoods within these emerging hotspots are starting to see strong interest from investors with an eye on the future, but also from strategic homeowners keen to trade in equity earned in a more established, but flat lining, market like the South East,’ he pointed out.
He also pointed out that two cities, Lincoln and Salford, have done well in the sales and letting markets due to their combination of strong price growth, good affordability and fast rising rental values.
‘Buy to let investors have faced a barrage of tax hits in recent years, making it more important than ever for them to focus on yield. Our research gives some useful pointers to where being a landlord still pays well,’ he added.
