UK Economy Statistics

According to Landbay's National Rent Review, the rents in Leeds, Birmingham, and Manchester are growing due to the inflow of the young population into the cities. The rents grew at 0.97 per cent in the UK, but in Leeds, rents increased at the rate of 2.54 per cent and Birmingham at 2.05 per cent. 

As per Landay's 2018 figures, London rents grew in 27 boroughs in the year, while in 2017, rents rose in only 26 boroughs. However, the growth in rental markets of London remained restricted and rental growth increased in the northern cities of Leeds and Manchester. 

The figures from Hamptons International found 61% more Londoners are buying outside. Leeds is expected to be the new headquarter for Channel 4. Economic developments and other operations that moved to Salford – led to rising rents by 2.62% in 2018. Further, property buyers are also optimistic about Greater Manchester property markets. 

The year-on-year price of Northern cities like Leicester and Manchester grew by over 6 per cent (as per Hometrack indicators). The report by Hometrack indicates there has been no imminent impact of Brexit on the housing outlook prices and market activities. 

Birmingham's population is expected to grow by over 100,000 in a decade, and there are other developments such as the opening of HSBC and the Deutsche Bank office.

The y-o-y growth of the biggest cities of the UK shows a greater than 6 per cent rise, with growth in Manchester was 6.3%, Edinburgh at 7.4%, Nottingham at 6.1%, and Leicester at 7.7% – most of the key northern cities are performing well - as per Hometrack analysis of Zoopla listing. 

London Property Decline 

The price of London homes dropped in the last few years, mainly due to changes in tax regulations and affordability issues. As a result, London prices fell 0.4 per cent to £483,500 in the last year, although, overall, the prices in the city rose 84 per cent since 2009.  

The fall in sales started in 2014, before Brexit. One of the key reasons for the reduction in sales was tax changes in 2012 and the new mortgage regulations, which restricted growth in this sector. 

RICS Report On Market 

There are some conflicting data where a considerable effect of Brexit on Britain's housing markets is suggested. For example, RICS agents claim the housing prices will be affected by Brexit, mostly in the capital city and the South-East in 2019; on the contrary, the regions in the North West, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland will continue to grow. 

RICS expected the prices to flatline in 2019, but it says the notion varies significantly across different parts of the country. It says growth in some regions will offset the negative trends in others, and overall the picture and growth can be stable. 

In the commercial property sector, the rental growth was 1.5 per cent till September y-o-y, as construction started to decline. However, there were proposals to convert commercial properties to homes to bring back-office properties. 

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