TWO locations in the North East have been selected as the only areas in the UK where average house prices haven’t recovered from those seen nearly 14 years ago during the ‘credit crunch’.
Despite other local authorities across the country seeing growth and a surge in recent times when it comes to properties, especially during the pandemic, this hasn’t been seen everywhere.
In Durham and Hartlepool, the average price of a house is still more than £3,000 lower than it was in 2007, when the housing market had a collapse, losing millions of pounds for the economy, and prices went into meltdown across the board.
Read more: County Durham's property prices in the last 10 years
In recent statistics, released by home setup service Just Move In, the average home in Durham was £119,447 in the latest Land Registry figures, which was £2890 below its £122,337 pre-crash peak in October 2007.
Meanwhile, Hartlepool house prices are £129,438; £3,498 lower than the £132,936 it topped out at in November 2007.
Despite the data not making favourable reading for Durham, property experts in the region have suggested that the reality “on the ground” in the local property market is better than the figures suggest.
A partnership of estate agents within Durham, who cover all parts of County Durham when it comes to housing, have questioned whether the statistics are “intuitive” of the deals that are actually being brokered for houses.
A spokesperson for the partnership said: “Houses in DH1 postcodes cost are, on average, £357,510, which has increased by close to 11 per cent over the last five years.
“ DH3 postcode is another expensive area. Chester-le-Street is one of the oldest market towns in County Durham, and the area east of the East Coast Main Line railway commands high property prices, as do former mining communities around there.”
While the estate agent partnership have admitted that ‘lower priced’ areas exist, including Dipton, Stanley and South Hetton, the average house prices commanded at these locations of County Durham fetch price tags of between £136,000 to £146,000 – higher than the data sourced by Just Move In.
In the UK as a whole, the average UK home peaked at £190,032 in September 2007, and is currently 142 per cent higher at £269,945.
Further down the list of UK locations that have only just recovered from the average house prices, it doesn’t make great ready for the North of England, with Blackpool and Middlesbrough finally recovered to pre-crash levels in the latest Land Registry data and are among 13 regions that took more than 13 years to do so.
By contrast, London recovered to its pre-crash peak in only two years. Nine of the fastest ten areas to recover are found in the South, while all ten of the slowest regions are in the North.
Cambridge, London and St Albans have fared best since the crash, with prices currently 181 per cent, 175 per cent and 168 per cent of their pre-crash peak respectively.
Ross Nichols, co-founder of Just Move In, said: “The housing market has exploded over the past year, but it’s sobering to think that parts of the country have only recently recovered to the levels they were before the 2008 crash.
Read more: A property expert on how the housing market is changing
“Hartlepool and Durham are the last two parts of the country that still haven’t hit that level, while Blackpool and Middlesbrough only recovered in the most recent figures.
“There’s a North-South divide when it comes to the recovery, with London and other Southern cities bouncing back quickly, while Northern areas are still lagging behind.”
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