It’s home to one of the country’s most popular seaside resorts and it now holds the number one spot for the hottest property market in the UK.
Online estate agents Housesimple says it has looked at data from the Land Registry for the latest completed property sales and found that Blackpool has seen the biggest rise in the number of properties being sold.
The figures cover the sales between the first and second quarters this year and the 17% rise seen in the Lancashire town is more than any other big town or city in the country.
Following close behind is Lancaster with a 16.6% rise in house sales, and then Durham with 15.4%.
The figures also highlight that the North-South property divide is currently being turned on its head with nine of the 10 locations with the biggest fall in house sales being found in the south of England.
Blackpool’s property prices
Blackpool’s property prices are among the cheapest in the UK – the average price for a home in the North West is £159,000, compared to the UK’s average of £228,000. That’s a 43% difference.
Alongside affordable house prices, Housesimple says buyers are flocking to the area because of a booming jobs market.
The firm’s chief executive, Sam Mitchell, said: “Properties are still affordable in the north of England, particularly for family homes, and with thriving local economies that attract workers to the region, housing stock is being snapped up in big cities such as Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds.”
The top 10 of towns and cities in the UK with the biggest rise in the number of properties sold earlier this year sees Swindon in fourth place with 11.8%, followed by Hartlepool on 8.9% and Leicester on 8.8%.
The list is completed with Middlesbrough on 7.4% and Warrington, Gloucester and Newcastle all on 7.2%
Increasing popularity as a destination for buying properties
News of Blackpool’s increasing popularity as a destination for buying properties been underlined by an analysis from Search Acumen who say that in the first half of this year, more than £133 million worth of property there changed hands.
The firm says that the value of transactions reached £241 million last year, that is an increase of 19% from three years ago.
However, the firm is now predicting that Blackpool’s property market will break the £250 million barrier this year.
Search Acumen’s managing director, Andrew Lloyd, said: “Blackpool’s property market is on track for another year of record growth.”
Blackpool is also set to become one of the first cities that will digitise its Local Land Charges register which will help speed up the process of buying and sign property in the town.
