IT’S the start of a new year which means it’s time to look back on the last decade to see how Warrington’s property market has changed.

Innumerable life events have taken place in the last 10 years including financial crashes, referendums and of course, a global pandemic; all of these events have a knock on impact on the local property market.

Using Land Registry, we can compare average property prices to see how they have changed throughout the years.

We can also see if significant life events had an impact on the local property market.

Let’s take and in depth look at the Warrington property market to see how it has changed in the last decade.

How house prices have changed in Warrington
(Data from January 2010- October 2020)

As you can tell from the graph, average property prices in Warrington have fluctuated significantly over the last ten years.

The latest data from October show the average property prices to be at an all-time high, with the latest property price standing at £205,579.

When you compare the figure from January 2010 to the most up-to-date October 2020 data, the average house price has increased by 40 per cent.

A stamp duty holiday was announced in July 2020 which was meant to be a financial incentive for locals to keep buying houses.

While property transactions across the UK increased during these months, the same can’t be said for Warrington; between July and September, the number of property transactions made decreased by 46 per cent.

Transactions made in 2020 as a whole were also at an all time low.

As you can see from the graph, transactions nosedived in 2020.

However, this is unsurprising given that house couldn’t go ahead for a lot of the year and people were encouraged to stay at home as much as possible.

How Warrington’s house prices compare to the rest of England

While Warrington’s average property prices are much lower than the England average, the local house market has followed similar trends- with a few exceptions.

At the start of the decade, the UK was still recovering from the 2009 global financial crisis.

During this time, demand for houses dropped along with the average property value and price.

Gráinne Gilmore, head of research at Zoopla said average UK home values only recovered to pre-financial crisis levels in 2015 and have since “continued to climb”.

Ms Gilmore added that the North of England came out on top in terms of price growth in recent years which she puts down to “increased affordability” of houses in the area.

According to Land Registry, England’s figures have climbed by more than 22 per cent.

When you compare January 2015’s figures to January 2020’s, house prices in Warrington have exceeded this figure, increasing by 23.2 per cent.

In April 2016, stamp duty was increased on additional homes and more expensive homes.

According to Gráinne Gilmore, this “slowed price growth” in the South of England.

However, the same can’t be said for Warrington where house prices increased by more than five per cent (between April- August 2016).

Grainne Gilmore added that the 2019 election also had a significant impact on UK housing prices.

She added: “The general election at the end of 2019 - which provided a definitive path forward for Brexit -  unleashed a new wave of pent-up demand [for property in the UK].”

Between the election and the announcement of lockdown (November 2019- March 2020) property prices increased by 0.6 per cent in England.

In Warrington, property demand and prices increased at a similar rate (0.9 per cent).

Just like the rest of the UK, Warrington experienced a housing boom last summer when house prices began to increase.

Between May and September house prices increased by 5.3  per cent, just 0.1 per cent lower than England’s figure.  

How will house prices change in the future?

There has been a lot of activity in the property market in 2021 and a spokesperson for Zoopla said Christmas 2020 was their busiest festive period for a decade and the demand for property has spilled into this year.

This means it is bad news for those hoping to buy a more affordable house at the start of the year.

Ms Gilmore said: “Looking ahead, we expect house price growth to reach 5% … and then slow down by the end of the year as demand starts to ease in the second half of 2021.”