Croydon saw the second biggest increase in the number of homes sold in the first half of the year, according to a survey of the national housing market published yesterday.
The survey, conducted by t’Halifax, saw a 73 per cent increase compared to the Jan-Jun period of 2009 and suggests what the Press Association calls “a two-speed housing market”, with a classic north-south divide.
Ilford, which experienced an 83 per cent sales increase this year, Croydon and eight other towns in London and the south-east top the table.
PA reports, “All except three of the 10 towns that have seen the slowest recovery in transaction levels are in northern regions, including three places where there has been no pick up at all.”
Averaged over the whole of England and Wales, property transactions have increased by 27 per cent, though they still remain well down on levels seen before the credit crunch.
The findings come as no surprise: as we have stated before, national house price surveys are a blunt instrument, and rarely reflect accurately the state of the market in Croydon and the surrounding area, where demand for homes historically outstrips supply.
With respect, these stats apply to only the first half of 2010 when Labour’s pre-election deficit denial gave those incapable of free thought some mis-guided confidence.
Skip forward to now and prices locally are tumbling and transactions falling. There is no recovery in property, in fact the falls are gathering pace.
With respect, you’ve missed the point.
What is happening in the housing market now will be reported in due course, when those figures are in.
Of course the overall state of the economy impacts the housing market – that goes without saying. It can be argued that the current administration, by imposing deep, dogmatic cuts on public services, will stifle any chance of recovery and tip the UK economy in to recession.
However grim it all becomes, the housing market in Croydon, London and the south-east will always tend to be more active than anything experienced oop north.