Our Managing Director, Matthew Jones undertakes all of our valuations and has performed well over five thousand property valuations for The Purple Property Shop. Matthew is also a qualified accountant, and below he has given his thoughts on property prices in Bolton and the surrounding areas.
Bolton House Prices
In the year 2023, Bolton unfortunately saw a slight decrease in the average house price, with the average price sitting just above two hundred thousand pounds (£203k). While on the face of it, it may be disappointing the reduction was fairly slight, representing a drop of just 4%) on the previous year1.
As you would expect Bolton residents pay more for a detached property with the average price of a detached property coming in at just under four hundred thousand pounds (£395k), which is nearly double the price of the average semi-detached property at £210k3.
More affordable properties can be found within our town, with terraced properties averaging £127k and flats averaging £105k in Bolton3.
Bolton remains one of the more cost-effective places in the UK to purchase a property and is currently the 25th least expensive area (out of 113 postcode areas in the country) 2. This is great news for Bolton residents as it means that the cost of living and therefore quality of life is significantly better in Bolton than in many other parts of the country.
This is particularly pertinent as sixty percent of the housing stock in Bolton falls into the £100k to £250k price bracket with a further 25% being valued under £100k. This means that eighty-five percent of the housing stock is valued below a quarter of a million pounds2. This is great news for those purchasing properties, as properties that are priced at below £250,000 are exempt from Stamp Duty. This means that the vast majority of our housing stock is tax-free to purchase.
Bolton remains as a great place for first time buyers and property investors alike with properties costing significantly less than other parts of the country. The average house price to earnings ratio in Bolton is 6.0, meaning the average salary is one sixth of the average house price. This compares very favourably to the national average of 8.162.
The rental market remains very buoyant and active with many applicants fighting over all the rental properties we list, which is great news for landlords. The median price of a rental property currently listed in Bolton is £850 per month. The average rent for a two-bedroom property is £871 per month and the average for a three bedroom property is £1,1169 month3. An investor can therefore expect an average yield between 6% and 9% depending on the size and style of the property.
Volume of Sales – Bolton
While 2023 saw just a slight 4% drop in the value of our homes, the biggest concern was the drop in the number of property sales.
The volume of property sales in Bolton dropped dramatically last year. In the twelve months between January 2023 and December 2023 there were 1,300 property sales transactions, this represents a drop of 31 % and 674 fewer sales than the year before.
The National Position
The position in Bolton is fairly reflective of the national position with the average price of a UK house being £285,0004 (December 23), this represents a decrease of £4,000 (1.2%) from 12 months ago.
Overall housing in the North West faired much better in terms of house prices compared to the rest of the country in 2023. The North West was the only region in the country to experience an overall increase in house prices, with a a rise of 1.2%, being recorded. By contrast the worst affected area was London which suffered a decrease of 4.8% in 2023.
Five Year Forecast
Various agencies are trying to predict house price movements between 2023 and 2027.
Estate Agents Savills and Knight Frank are frequent commentators on the state of the housing market and back in May 2023 were predicting that 2023 would see a drop in average house prices of approximately 8.5%5
The general consensus is that property prices will continue to fall through 2024 and it is expected that a drop of around 10% will be seen by the end of 2024. However, here in Bolton we are experiencing a very positive start to the year, with very encouraging first quarter results. In fact February 2024 saw an upturn in house prices from the prior twelve months with prices being up 2.4% on the previous year4
Most forecasters are predicting that the market will be fully recovered by the end of 2024 and will continue to grow thereafter.
Savills for example predict an optimistic increase of around 7% in 2026 and do not believe another house price crash is on the cards.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicts a property price increase of 3.5% in 2027, while Statista forecasts an average house price growth of 1.7% between 2023 and 2027.
Overall it would appear that we are through the worst of the turbulence caused by the interest rate rise, which was triggered by Liz Truss’ ‘mini budget’, and that a full recovery is just around the corner.
Ready to explore your options for selling your house in Bolton? Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help you achieve your property goals. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to make the most of Bolton’s dynamic property market. Reach out now to get started!”
References
- rightmove.co.uk
- plumplot.co.uk
- co.uk
- ons.gov.uk
Other References
UK House Price Index for August 2023 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)https://housinganywhere.com/
