Property Price

Declining housing prices in Northern England have begun to stand out in stark contrast to the trends in housing prices throughout the rest of the country, including London. According to data published by the Land Registry, the average house price in the north east of England has reached below £100,000.

Public spending cuts and unemployment are cited as factors for the north east´s declining housing prices, as prices have reached an average of £99,464 per property, falling a total of 7.1% for the 2011 year. 2011 has the lowest numbers in eight years.

By contrast, the rest of England and Wales only experienced a 1.3% decline in housing prices, averaging over the year 2011 to £160,384 per house.

The´s record price fall for 2011 in England and Wales took place at Hartlepool in County Durham, where prices reached an average of £77,188, falling by 17.5%, and reaching the same figures as those in 2004, and nearly to that of the £66,000 per house average from 1995.

Similarly, Middlesbrough and Liverpool suffered pricing plummets, as Middlesbrough reached an £81,415 average and Liverpool´s fell to £93,068 per house. The prices had fallen by 9.9% and 9.6% prospectively in 2011.

However, in London, prices increased by 2.8% in 2011, by about £1,000 per property per month to an average £345,298, falling just short of the 2008 record peak prices.

Property Sale House

The borough of Kensington and Chelsea has average prices amounting to just short of £1m, at £967,95 per property, with a 7.2% increase over 2011. The 2011 increase of prices in the borough were approximately the equivalent of purchasing an entire property in Durham´s Hartlepool.

Westminster had by far the largest increase in London prices, with an average of £677,752, up by 8.9% to. Across the whole of the capital, the average price for a detached home also rose above £600,000.

Estate agents and economists disagree over the forecast for 2012. In London´s Newham, a borough that will serve as a site of the 2012 Olympics, has fallen in pricing averages rather than risen as predicted.

Furthermore, The Land Registry notes that on a national scale, the property market is still depressed in comparison with the flourishing economy leading up to 2007.

For example, the available data on monthly sales up until October 2011 totaled an average of 60,764 in England and Wales, a figure that outstripped by the average 120,000 sales a month recorded in 2005 and 2006.