Durham, do the statistics stack up? Is it the right time to buy or not?

I do love the headlines people are using to gain the attention of their readers. In one particular online property report there were two separate articles. The first claimed “Property Prices Tumble ahead of the Referendum. Bad news I thought, but surely there is bound to be some uncertainty as both parties (by omission rather than admission), have identified that this situation has never occurred before and therefore realistically no one actually knows! I read further and then the whole terrible horror story quickly unfurled! Prices have actually dropped by .03% and it definitely says that this could “possibly be attributed to the forthcoming referendum”! Well there you have it shock horror, but it did get me reading, so at least I know the real factsJ.

It also got me thinking about whether it is a good time to buy in the Durham area, so I thought I would look up a few statistics myself as I have noticed a small increase in interest in the sales market that we have been experiencing recently. What I did was compare the Durham area (County Durham) as a whole and compared the average house price against the average salary for the same period. I also thought it would be worth looking at the period of 2007/8 -2014/15 (sadly the latest national statistics currently available, although the financial year for that period ended 5^th April 2015).

The average salary in Durham in 2007/8 was £18,805 and the average house price across the county was £105,000. This means that the average house price was 4.6 times the average Salary. If we fast forward to 2014/15 the average salary has increased by 13% to £21,330 yet the average house price had only grown by 3% to £108,000 meaning that the ratio had dropped from 4.6 to 4.1.  Prices are beginning to rise so now is still an excellent time to look for pastures new or additional investment property so if you are thinking about a move or investment, strike whilst the irons hot there are still some bargains here in the North East.

We are getting a lot of enquiries, interest and sales from southern investors so don’t miss out if you are local. These people have done their homework and you get a lot more for your money in the North East than you can in London and the South East. If you want to know more or would just like to have an initial exploratory chat whether it is a residential home or a buy to let investment, just call me (John Henderson), at my Durham office 0191 212 6970 and I would be happy to advise and help you.  I am surmising you will never guess what the second article was about. J.