House prices up in Worcester, Malvern & Wychavon - but why?

The UK House Price Index from Land Registry shows differing trends across the three patches but all ended up higher year-on-year in January.

What the stats show

In Worcester there was an overall rise of 1.9 per cent, although this came after a near-four per cent drop in June 2020 that then turned into a surge that represented an eight per cent rise by October.

The Worcester average across the year went from £213,999 to £216,249 despite a fairly sharp drop from December to January.

The 7.6 per cent rise in Malvern saw a similar timeline but with bigger fluctuations, the low coming in July 2020 when prices were 5.3 per cent down but they are now moving up and towards an average of £290,000.

In Wychavon the 5.4 per cent rise came about through a more consistent climb with growth at varying rates achieved from March 2020 onwards, taking the average price from £272,197 to 291,122.

The local take on figures

Nicol & Co have branches in Worcester, Droitwich and Malvern and their April report shows a 36 per cent increase in housing demand nationally since the start of the year with 13 per cent occurring between February and March.

It highlights statistics from property website Rightmove which shows March sales as being up 12 per cent year-on-year.

The average increase in house prices over the past year sits at 8.5 per cent, higher than the local rate.

Why is this happening?

Coral Walrond from Nicol & Co in Droitwich said: “The stamp duty holiday has been a massive incentive for the market, that brought in a lot of new buyers and sellers.

“It did quieten down in January, partly due to being back in national lockdown and fearing the stamp duty holiday was going to end.

“The extension until the end of June, and the nil rate starting at £250,000, is still bringing in a lot of buyers and sellers. That combination has created this frenzy in the market.

“Demand from buyers is outstripping the supply of properties on the market which causes offers to go above the asking price, quite substantially in some cases.”

Will the trend continue?

“This is the best market we have worked in for a substantial amount of time,” said Coral.

“It has been getting increasingly better year on year but this is the best market for many years, probably ever.

“Investors are coming back into the market for buy-to-let properties, all in all it seems to be really positive.

“I think it will continue, for the rest of this year certainly while demand continues to outstrip supply.

“Our advice is that the best time to buy is now.”

Why is the growth pattern different in Worcester?

“What we’re finding in Droitwich is that people are wanting to come to more rural areas, be in the countryside but in a place where they can commute from,” said Coral.

“That is driven by people who want to have that space with the changes to how we live in our homes, people want the space to be able to work from home and have a bigger garden because we are all committed to having more time at home moving forward.”