The East Anglia Property Market
House prices in the East Anglia region have soared in recent years. Since 1995, property values have soared by more than 400%, according to figures published by the Office of National Statistics.
Cambridge has been the top performer in terms of house prices in the region recently. In 1995, the average cost of a home in the city was just £70,000, but it had reached more than £350,000 by 2014. More recently, Cambridge has experienced unprecedented levels of house price growth. The Cambridge News website recently revealed that house prices in the city rose by £30,000 in just three months. Moreover, the cheapest homes in the area are approaching an eye-watering £300,000.
Both Ipswich and Norwich were recently named in a list of Britain’s top ten property hotspots. In Norwich, a combination of new developments and historic areas has attracted buyers in huge numbers – taking the average price of property in the city to £196,472. Ipswich is currently benefitting from a rise in the number of tech industries setting up in the town. This, combined with a burgeoning retail sector and a growing student population, has driven the average price of a house in the town above £176,946.
As an increasing number of home buyers look beyond London and the Home Counties in search of affordable property, the property market in East Anglia continues to grow. The LSL house price index pegged annual house price growth for the entire UK at just 0.3 percent. However, growth in East Anglia during the same period was an astonishing 6.3 percent.
One of the best performers in terms of house price growth in recent months has been Sheringham – where house price growth of more than eight percent has taken the average price of a home in the town to more than £247,000. Another property hotspot in the region is the idyllic town of Melbourn in South Cambridgeshire, where house price growth of 7.4 percent has driven the average property value beyond £370,000.
Despite already having higher-than-average house prices in the region, East Anglia was among the best performing areas of the UK in terms of property value growth. According to the BBC website, house price growth of nine percent made East Anglia the second best performer, after East Anglia. After an initial forecast of just three percent, it is clear that this exceptional rise in average property prices was largely unexpected. But as people continue to leave London in large numbers – in search of more affordable property – expect to see more strong growth in East Anglia house prices between now and 2020.
