Rise in values for UK homes close to Premier League football grounds
Homes in the UK close to Premier League football grounds have seen their values rise by 137% over the past decade, new research shows.
Properties near to Champions Manchester City have seen the biggest increase while Premier League homes in general cost eleven times average earnings, according to research by the Halifax.
It found that the average house price in the postal districts of the twenty Premier League football clubs has increased by £209,975 over the last ten years from £152,891 in April 2002 to £362,866 in April 2012.
This is equivalent to a weekly rise of £404. Over the same period, house prices across England and Wales as a whole increased by 90%.
House prices in the Premier League postal districts have risen by an average of 1.3% over the past year. This compares to a 2.7% fall across England and Wales.
Four of the five Premier League postal districts that have recorded the biggest house price increases over the last ten years are home to stadiums that were built in the last 15 years. In contrast, four of the six Premier League stadium postal districts that saw the smallest house price growth over the same period have stadiums that were opened before the Second World War. The number of newly built stadiums in the Premier League have doubled over the past decade from four at the start of the 2002/03 season to eight at the start of the 2012/13 season.
Property prices close to the home of current Premier League champions, Manchester City, saw by far the biggest increase over the past ten years. Homes within the postal district of the Etihad Stadium have risen by an average of 271% over the past decade. This increase is almost double the rise in prices close to Aston Villa’s home ground of 126%, the second best performing Premier League postal district. Sunderland recorded the third biggest rise at 125%, followed by Swansea City at 115%.
In contrast, Newcastle United finished rock bottom of the Premier League house price table with the value of properties close to St James Park dropping by 7% since 2002.
Home buyers must fork out almost eleven times average earnings to live near their team’s Premier League ground. The average Premier League house price of £362,866 in 2012 is, on average, 10.8 times higher than national average gross annual earnings. This is almost double the multiple of 6.0 in 2002.
‘House prices close to the nation’s most iconic football stadiums have risen substantially over the past decade, particularly in the areas near to some of the newest venues. This partly reflects the local regeneration that typically takes place alongside the building of modern sporting arenas, including improved transport links,’ said Martin Ellis, housing economist at the Halifax.
‘The rise in property values does, however, come at a cost with home affordability deteriorating significantly over the last ten years for those hoping to live near their favourite football ground,’ he added.
The research also found that the postal district covering both Chelsea and Fulham Football Clubs is the most expensive to live in with an average house price of £749,530. The most expensive postal district outside the capital is Reading at £220,423 and the most costly postal district in Northern England is Manchester United at £154,145.
The least expensive Premier League postal district is home to both Liverpool and Everton Football Clubs with an average house price of £63,473.