Why the growth of house prices has slowed down in Sheffield

The rate of annual growth in property prices has run below five per cent from August onwards in Sheffield, figures have revealed.

In October, the most recent period covered by the statistics, the value of homes only rose by 3.1 per cent, with the average cost of a property being £138,400.

Housebuyers’ website Zoopla ranked 20 cities in the UK according to their rate of house price growth – last month this ranged from 4.7 per cent in Leicester to minus 5.9 per cent in Aberdeen.

Annual house price growth in every city featured in the index has now been running below five per cent for three consecutive months in a row. The last time this happened was in 2012.

In London, where the average cost of a home was highest at £476,900, values rose by one per cent in October – the biggest rate of growth there for two years, following a spell of year-on-year price falls.

Joanne Bloor, of Bloor & Co on Abbeydale Road in Sheffield, said there was a ‘complete lack of supply’ in the city.

“We are still selling properties, but there is a lack of confidence,” she said. “The lack of supply is having an effect on how many are being sold. We've found this throughout the last 12 months.”

Joanne said it had been a difficult year. “There are a lot more agents in Sheffield, so there are a lot less properties coming onto the market for that share you're trying to get. The competition is more aggressive.”

Potential vendors were also cautious about picking the right time to sell, fearful of ‘another crash like 2008’.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty,” said Joanne. “You go out to do a valuation and everybody’s undecided as to what to do – whether to do it now or see what happens with Brexit. But there are still buyers out there. We sold two yesterday. The figures are still quite good.”

However, she remains confident the situation could change. “We’ve got to wait and see what happens with the election. The popular postcodes are still doing well – S11, S17, S7, S8, S10. Saying that, we’ve just sold one in Chapeltown. Apartments are a lot slower in the city centre, but there’s a lot available. In the suburbs, decent family or first time buyer-type houses are still quite good. Those types of properties do very well, if they are very well-presented.”

Zoopla says the announcement of the General Election has hastened a traditional ‘seasonal slowdown’ in the market.

Richard Donnell, the website’s research and insight director, said: "While the London housing market has been in the doldrums, market conditions in regional cities have been stronger over the last two years with demand supported by employment growth and attractive housing affordability.

"The rate of growth is slowing, and all cities are registering annual growth of less than five per cent.

"The last few weeks of the year pre-Christmas tend to be much quieter than after Boxing Day, when consumer interest in housing springs back to life."

In Manchester, the average price was £172,500, with growth of 4.6 per cent recorded in October. In Leeds, the average cost of a home was £167,800 last month, and values grew by 3.4 per cent.

Aberdeen’s poor performance has been ongoing since 2015 when oil prices collapsed.