It’s been a turbulent time for the housing market this year- Warrington’s is no exception included.

Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the market has undergone a series of changes with house sales and property prices fluctuating this year.

The UK also experienced a property boom in the summer and Rishi Sunak announced a stamp duty holiday for properties less than £500,000.

Gráinne Gilmore, Head of Research at Zoopla (real estate company), said people are also reassessing their living needs and the repercussions of staying inside have encouraged people to search for homes with gardens and more space.

She explained: “The desire for additional space is reflected in our data which shows that houses with three or more bedrooms are selling fastest.

“Gardens are at the top of the list of many home buyers’ requirements, but keywords such as ‘annexe’ ‘detached’, ‘rural’ have also started to move up the search-term charts this year - in a further sign that more people are looking for additional space.” 

While we are well aware of the UK’s property market have you considered how it compares to Warrington’s?

Here is a rundown of how Warrington’s property market has changed and fluctuated this year:

The number of property transactions made in Warrington

According to Land Registry,1834 property transactions have taken place in Warrington between January and September which is 38 per cent less than last year’s figures (2965).

Research by We Buy Any Home also found that house sales enquiries in Warrington decreased by 24.8% this year when compared to last.

As you can tell by the graph, Warrington’s property market was buoyant before lockdown.

21 per cent more property transactions were made this January compared to January of last year.

However, March’s lockdown is reflected in Warrington’s property transaction figures as people were asked to stay inside and property viewings were unable to go ahead.

Between March and April the number of property transactions in Warrington decreased by 65 per cent.

Like the rest of the UK, Warrington experienced a slight property boom during the warmer months.

Between April and June, there was a 138 per cent increase in property transactions.

Despite this significant increase, these figures are no way near as high as 2019’s figures.

June 2019’s figures are 57  per cent higher than June 2020’s.

However, after this the figures began to decline dropping by 52 per cent between June and September.

How house prices have changed in Warrington

A representative for Zoopla (real estate company), said the housing sales market is set to have its busiest Christmas period in more than a decade- hence the increase of property price.

She explained: “As a result of the increased demand and activity in the market, average UK house price growth is currently up 3.5% on the year and could rise to 4% growth by the end of December”.

Property experts also predict an increase of house sales early next year as people try to make the stamp duty deadline- something that could also contribute to increased property price.

While average house prices increased across the UK- can the same be said for Warrington?

As you can see from the chart, house prices in Warrington have fluctuating a lot this year.

In January of this year, the average house price was lower than January 2019’s figure (0.4 per cent).

However, when lockdown was announced in March, the average property price in Warrington began to drop.

Between March and May, property prices decreased by one per cent.

During the summer property boom house prices began to soar; between May and September house prices increased by 6.8 per cent.

What do the experts predict for the future?

As with many things in the current climate, experts predict that the future of the property market is uncertain.

Mark Irwin, Marketing Director at WeBuyAnyHome said: “The property market, like the global economy, has gone through unprecedented changes in 2020- and the truth is that no one can be exactly sure what will happen next.

“We anticipate lower value properties that don’t benefit from the stamp duty reduction to be more acutely impacted, especially as they tend to belong to lower income residents who may be more susceptible to job losses and need to sell as a result.”