Bolton House Prices
The average house price in Bolton is currently around £208k. This represents a slight increase (2%) on the previous year1.
The average price of a detached property in Bolton is £401k, compared to a semi-detached property at £221k and a terraced property at £152k. Meanwhile the average cost of a flat or apartment is currently £122k in Bolton1.
Bolton remains one of the more cost-effective places in the UK to purchase a property and is currently the 18th least expensive area (our of 105 postcode areas in the country) 1.
More than 60% of the housing stock in Bolton falls into the £100k to £250k price bracket with a further 14% being valued under £100k. This means that three quarters of the housing stock is valued below a quarter of a million pounds1.
The local housing economy means that the Bolton is a great place for first time buyers and property investors alike. The average house price to earnings ration in Bolton is 6.0, meaning the average salary is one sixth of the average house price. This compares favourably to the national average of 8.161.
The average rental property currently listed in Bolton is £970 per month. The average rent for a two bedroom property is £838 per month and the average for a three bedroom property is £1,100 per month2.
An investor can therefore expect an average yield of between 6% and 9% depending on the style of property being rented.
Volume of Sales – Bolton
The volume of sales in Bolton has dropped dramatically in the last couple of years. In the twelve months between August 2020 and August 2021 there were 4,486 sales transactions, this dropped to 3,884 in the year between August 2021 and August 2022 and a further drop was noted in the year between August 2022 and August 2023 with just 2,408 transaction recorded3. This means that there were over 2,000 (46%) fewer sales transactions this year compared to that of the same period two years ago and nearly 1,500 fewer (38%) compared to last year.
The National Position
The UK average house price is currently £291,0444 which represents an increase of 0.2% from 12 months ago and an increase of 0.3% from the month before (July 2023).
Compared to the rest of the country the North of England fared much better in August with a rise of 3.6% experienced in the North East, Yorkshire and Humber increased by 2.2% while here in the North West an increase 0.4% was experienced.
Modest price rises were also found in the Midlands in the month to August 2023 while house prices dropped in London and the South.
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.
As a leading Bolton estate agent, we can see that it is not all bad news however, as the decline is not due to last forever and provided that the recent interest rate increase is reversed then, the recovery could happen before the end of 2024.
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.
References
plumplot.co.uk
landregistry.data.gov.uk
UK House Price Index for August 2023 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
https://housinganywhere.com/
Other references
www.rightmove.co.uk
www.onthemarket.co.uk
www.zoopla.co.uk
www.statista.com
www.bbc.co.uk
