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House price growth in cities slows to seven-year low

Christina Hoghton
Written By:
Christina Hoghton
Posted:
Updated:
26/04/2019

While weaker growth in the south pulls down the overall figure, some northern cities have seen property price rises of over 5% in the last 12 months

House price inflation in cities has slowed to 1.7%, according to Hometrack, as affordability pressures grow and moving costs increase.

It marks the weakest growth since May 2012, as poor market conditions are spreading out from London into cities across southern England.

The property business found that all six southern England cities covered by the index recorded the lowest growth rates since 2012 – ranging from -0.6% in Oxford to +2.2% in Bristol.

Sales volumes fall

Demand for housing in southern cities has also weakened, which is apparent in falling sales and lower levels of house price growth.

Sales volumes are down by an average of 13% across southern cities since 2015, with a 20% drop in Cambridge (in line with London) and 13% in Bournemouth.

Affordable cities fare well

The cities with the highest rates of price growth are those where the recovery in prices since 2008 has been weakest and where affordability levels remain most attractive.

Liverpool has the highest annual rate of house price growth (5.8%) with three other cities registering price growth over 5% – Leicester, Glasgow and Manchester. Housing sales in Glasgow and Liverpool are, respectively, 12% and 19% higher than in 2015.

Founder and CEO of Springbok Properties, Shepherd Ncube, said: “A real-life property fable of the tortoise and the hare is materialising across the UK market. The cities to have registered more notable price growth levels since the market crash are now seeing this pedigree subside, whilst the less inflated regional cities are demonstrating some stamina to come to the forefront of the price growth rankings.

“Prices are holding firm for the large part and this shows promise for the market beyond Brexit, if we will ever see such a thing.”