If someone was to ask you the various hotspots of the UK property market the likes of London and the South East would probably spring to mind. These are areas of the UK which have predominantly performed in the higher echelons for many years and are likely to continue to do so for some time to come. However, a report by online estate agent eMoov has cast a very interesting light on the current hotspots, and the cold spots, of the UK property market.
Using a basic measurement of properties for sale and properties sold in the third quarter of 2015 the results will probably surprise you.
UK property hotspots
The top five hotspots in the UK include Bexley in first place followed by Watford, Bristol, Reading and then Barking and Dagenham. These are followed by the likes of Sutton, Cambridge, Medway, Havering and then Brentwood. While many of these are likely places you have heard of in the past they are not necessarily areas where you would expect property hotspots to emerge.
Some would argue that the statistics are slightly misleading because they only take into account properties for sale and properties sold in the third quarter of 2015 and do not reflect the size of the underlying market. However, it does give you an idea of where demand would appear to be outstripping supply.
Not so hot property markets in the UK
At the other end of the spectrum the survey also looked at so-called cold spots within the UK property market where there is little interest from investors at this moment in time. Bottom of the list is Aberdeenshire which has been impacted by an array of factors including the ongoing demise of the UK oil industry and then we have Nine Elms, the City of Westminster, Northumberland, Highland, Kensington and Chelsea, Gateshead, County Durham, Stockton on Tees and Sunderland in 10th last place.
While the likes of the City of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea will surprise many people we must remember this is only a snapshot of the third quarter. Those who follow the property market will be well aware that the likes of Aberdeenshire, as we touched on above, together with Northumberland, Sunderland, Stockton on Tees, County Durham and Gateshead are part of the struggling North of England/Scotland. These are areas of the UK property market which have sporadically received financial assistance from the UK authorities but they continue to lag the more prominent parts of the UK property market.
Should we take statistics at face value?
When you take relatively small areas of the UK property market and undertake statistical analysis without any adjustment factors the figures can be slightly misleading. You will see a number of names in the above list which you would maybe not expect while others such as low performing property markets in the North of England seem to fit a stereotypical overview of the UK real estate sector.
On the whole the UK property market is fairly buoyant, property prices are rising and while we see experts promoting investment outside of London and the south-east this has not yet really happened en masse. Even though property prices in the North of England have picked up, their relative performance against London and the south-east of England is still disappointing.