Despite house prices rising across the country as a whole, there are opportunities for buyers in the South to secure a good deal. The number of sales in the South has fallen and more property is on the market making it a buyer’s market. A similar picture is true for rents. Although rents in the South remain high, they are growing at a much slower rate than in the North.
Key Takeaways:
- Asking prices for homes across the UK increased by 0.9pc in October 2016, according to the online property portal Rightmove. The average asking price of a home in England and Wales now sits at £309,122
- In the north of England, there is a seller’s market. Further south, however, there is a buyer’s market.
- It was a similar story with rental increases, according to Countrywide’s monthly lettings index. It said that rents in the Northern cities rose by 6.4pc in the year to September, much faster than in the south of England, where they increased by 1.8pc during the same period.
““With London rents growing at the slowest rate since the downturn in 2008 and Northern cities recording rent rises three times as large as their Southern counterparts, there are signs that the North-South rental divide is starting to close.””