Anyone looking to take out a first time buyer mortgage in Liverpool might have noted the high rates of house price increase across the country. However, some may not be aware just how strong the local market increases have been.
Recent data from the government’s official property price tracking service at the Land Registry has shown that the average house price in Liverpool rose by around 10.4 per cent in the year to March, taking the cost of the typical home in the city to £175,000. This compared with a national average rise of 9.8 per cent.
This was up 1.7 per cent on February and exceeded both the 0.4 per cent rise seen over the same period in the north west and the 0.3 per cent increase across the UK as a whole.
According to the Liverpool Echo, a key reason for this may be the high volume of local investment by property developers.
Speaking to the paper, a spokesperson for Acorn Liverpool, a body that tackles housing issues, said investors are buying up the kind of terraced homes that used to be targeted by first-time buyers for the purpose of renting them out, identifying these as being in “areas like Picton, Wavertree, or even Anfield” and selling for £70-130,000 before the pandemic.
There may be alternatives, however; one of them is to purchase a new-build earmarked for owner-occupancy. According to the National Homes Building Council (NHBC) the number of new home registration in the first quarter of 2022 was 25 per cent higher than the same period last year.
This did vary substantially between regions, with Wales up as much as 84 per cent while the East of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland witnessed declines. However, the increase in the north west was close to the national average at 21 per cent.