The most recent Hometrack UK City House Price Index has revealed that Birmingham is Britain’s number one property hotspot. Prices in the city have risen faster than anywhere else in the country.
An average property in Birmingham rose in price by 8% in comparison to the corresponding month of last year- owning largely to substantial rise in transactions. Manchester and Nottingham came in second and third on the list for house price growth.
House Price Growth
On the other hand, Aberdeen has now been registering negative growth for the last two years. In more positive news, the yearly slowdown in London appears to have levelled out. Annual growth here now sits at 2.8%, up from 2.3% in June.
Across all of the UK’s main cities, annual house price growth now stands at 5.3%, in comparison to 7.4% in July 2016. The average price of a property in one of the 20 cities monitored by the Index is now £252,700 – higher than the UK average of £212,100.
The city level summary for July 2017 reads:
| City | Average price | %yoy Jul-16 | %yoy Jul-17 |
Variance |
| Birmingham | £155,400 | 6.8% | 8.0% | 1.2% |
| Manchester | £157,500 | 7.3% | 7.1% | -0.1% |
| Nottingham | £148,300 | 6.4% | 6.9% | 0.5% |
| Southampton | £229,000 | 7.8% | 6.5% | -1.4% |
| Leeds | £162,600 | 5.7% | 6.2% | 0.5% |
| Leicester | £165,100 | 6.2% | 5.8% | -0.4% |
| Portsmouth | £231,300 | 9.4% | 5.7% | -3.7% |
| Bournemouth | £280,900 | 6.8% | 5.4% | -1.3% |
| Edinburgh | £209,400 | 2.0% | 5.4% | 3.4% |
| Cardiff | £198,900 | 5.4% | 5.3% | -0.2% |
| Glasgow | £119,300 | 2.2% | 5.2% | 3.0% |
| Sheffield | £133,900 | 2.8% | 4.7% | 1.9% |
| Bristol | £268,400 | 14.3% | 3.7% | -10.7% |
| Belfast | £129,500 | 4.1% | 3.1% | -1.0% |
| Liverpool | £116,900 | 4.6% | 2.8% | -1.8% |
| London | £494,300 | 11.2% | 2.8% | -8.4% |
| Newcastle | £127,200 | 2.9% | 2.8% | -0.1% |
| Cambridge | £432,400 | 8.1% | 1.9% | -6.2% |
| Oxford | £418,400 | 9.5% | 1.2% | -8.4% |
| Aberdeen | £179,700 | -9.2% | -3.0% | 6.2% |
| 20 city index | £252,700 | 7.4% | 5.3% | -2.1% |
| UK | £212,100 | 6.9% | 4.8% | -2.1% |
Birmingham leads way for house price growth
Commenting on the findings, Richard Donnell, Research and Insight Director at Hometrack, said: ‘There remains a clear divide between the prospects for house price growth in regional cities, where affordability levels are attractive, and the prospects for house price growth in London and other high value cities in southern England.
“We expect house price growth in regional cities to be sustained at current levels for the rest of 2017 whereas London is set for a sustained period of low nominal house price growth and lower sales volumes’[1]
[1] https://www.propertyinvestortoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/8/house-prices-in-birmingham-rise-faster-than-anywhere-in-the-country