How much have house prices risen near YOU since Covid? Our map reveals biggest risers and fallers

The last four years have thrown all manner of madness at the housing market.

First, Covid and successive lockdowns sent house prices into an unexpected boom.

The so-called ‘race for space’ and rise of working from home combined with a stamp duty holiday and rock-bottom mortgage rates to create the perfect environment for prices to rise.

In just two and half years between March 2020 and September 2022 the value of the average property rose by more than 24 per cent across the UK, according to Land Registry data.

But then it all changed. Double-digit inflation sent interest rates hurtling upwards to levels not seen since the 2008 financial crisis.

Rates shot up meaning buyers could no longer purchase with a mortgage fixed at one or two per cent, and instead were faced with rates of five or six per cent. 

However, while house prices were widely expected to crash, they didn’t. Instead, they plateaued.

Between September 2022 and February 2024, the latest Land Registry figures show that the average UK home fell from £288,901 to £280,660, a 2.85 per cent fall.

Not every area will have followed the same pattern, though. Some local areas have seen prices surge far more than the UK average over the past four years, while other locations have seen prices fall.

Thanks to analysis by the property firm, Hamptons, we are able to reveal the ten local authority areas that have seen the biggest property price booms since March 2020, when the first lockdown began.

Hamptons also revealed the 10 local authorities where prices have performed the worst.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons said: ‘Most of the top performing areas are in the North of England which is what we would expect to see in the second half of the house price cycle where typically prices in the North are catching up with the South. 

‘Some of these areas haven’t seen prices fall either. In fact they’ve continued rising even amid higher mortgage rates.

‘In contrast, the bottom performing areas are dominated by London boroughs. In reality, prices in some central London locations actually peaked between 2015 and 2016.’

The house price winners since Covid

The top performing local authority for house price growth since the start of Covid is Rossendale in Lancashire.

There, average prices have risen by 48 per cent since March 2020, going from £142,997 to £212,796.

Rossendale has a population of just over 69,000 and covers around 4.8 per cent of Lancashire. There are four main towns that are driving home buyer interest: Rawtenstall, Haslingden, Bacup and Whitworth.

Graham Shuttleworth, manager at Ryder & Dutton estate agents in the town of Rawtenstall previously told This is Money that the area was benefitting from the house price ripple effect coming out of Manchester, as well as millions of pounds of investment coming into the area from the Government’s levelling up scheme. 

Blaenau Gwent in Wales is another riser, having seen average prices rise by 41 per cent since March 2020. The area covers the south eastern part of Wales and major towns include Tredegar, Abertillery and Ebbw Vale.

Meanwhile, prices on the Orkney Islands in Scotland have risen 40 per cent.

The islands off the north east coast of Scotland saw house prices rise to a peak of £218,927 in July 2022, but they have since fallen by 9 per cent to £198,397.

House prices growing in North West England 

Six of the remaining top 10 local authorities for house price growth are based in the North West of England. These are Manchester, Liverpool, Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham and St Helens.

Liverpool and Manchester have been two of the strongest-performing cities for house price growth for some time now.

House prices in Liverpool have risen by more than 55 per cent over the past eight years while in Manchester, prices are up by more than 65 per cent during that time.

The towns of Bolton, Oldham and Rochdale are all part of Greater Manchester, while St Helens is just west of Liverpool. 

Rossendale, the town that took the number one spot, lies immediately to the north of Greater Manchester in Lancashire. 

Jason Harris-Cohen, chief executive of property buying firm Open Property Group said: ‘Manchester has certainly cemented its position as the nation’s ‘second city’ and the Manchester property market has been the strongest performing of all major cities in recent years. 

‘Of course, this popularity does come at a cost and not only have house prices increased considerably, but the average cost of a home also sits far higher than the surrounding areas.

‘As is often the case, this high cost of homeownership has driven many buyers to look to these more affordable pockets of the market in order to climb the ladder while remaining within reach of Manchester.

‘The result is a ripple effect of market activity that has also helped to cultivate strong house price growth in surrounding areas such as Rossendale, Bolton, Rochdale and Oldham.’

South Hams in Devon also makes the top 10 list. The area is home to some popular coastal towns such as Dartmouth and Salcombe.

The area did particularly well during the pandemic as people rushed to relocate to more rural areas with locations along the south coast, including Dorset, Devon and Cornwall doing particularly well.

In the two and half years after the outbreak of Covid in March 2020, house prices in South Hams rose by a staggering 33 per cent, according to Land Registry figures. 

Sam Mitchell, chief executive of online estate agents Strike and Purplebricks said: ‘The UK’s best performing local areas post-pandemic are all in lower priced and more affordable regions. 

‘First-time buyers, in particular, have been drawn to these regions as they look to escape the extortionate rental prices we’re seeing across the UK. 

‘Despite the obstacles they face for home ownership, including high rent making it near impossible to save for a deposit, there’s still a huge appetite to get on the property ladder and buyers are prepared to search for value in order to do so.

‘The remote working boom means that buyers are far less geographically constrained and that’s also fuelling activity in more lower-priced areas. 

‘As inflation bites, demand for affordability means urban areas like Liverpool and Manchester are now outperforming London.’

The worst performing local authorities since Covid

The worst performing local authorities when it comes to house prices are dominated by London.

In Kensington and Chelsea, average prices have fallen 10 per cent since March 2020, while Camden property prices are down 7 per cent on average.

Both these areas saw prices rise in the initial year or two following the outbreak of Covid. 

Prices in Kensington and Chelsea rose from 1.34 million in March 2020 to a peak of £1.52 million in June 2022, but prices have since collapsed by 22 per cent on average.

Meanwhile, in Camden, average prices peaked at £882,000 in March 2022, but have since fallen by 12 per cent since then.

A number of other local authorities in the capital have also seen average prices dip since the pandemic.

The average property in the City of Westminster is down 5 per cent since March 2020. Once again, prices actually peaked in February 2022 at £1.17 million, but have since collapsed by 23 per cent on average. 

Marc von Grundherr, director of agents Benham and Reeves, believes a drop in the number of overseas buyers has hit large parts of London. 

He said: ‘The impact of the pandemic and the mass exodus of London homeowners to greener lands was well documented, and while this has since reversed, a more prolonged factor has been the reduction in foreign buyer demand across the capital’s prime boroughs.

‘While travel restrictions were the initial cause, a sluggish London property market has caused many to refrain from investing since the pandemic and we’re only now seeing demand start to return to pre-pandemic levels.

‘With the likes of the City of London, Kensington and Westminster home to the highest average house prices in the land, a reduction in foreign buyer demand has naturally contributed to a sharp reduction in values.’

The one non-London outlier for the 10 worst performing areas is Aberdeen in Scotland, which is down 7 per cent since March 2020. 

Sam Mitchell, chief executive of Purplebricks and Strike, thinks that stamp duty and inflation is driving many people away from the least affordable parts of the country.

Someone in London buying a £1million property will pay £41,250 in stamp duty, while Someone buying a second home for £1million will pay £71,250 in stamp duty. 

Meanwhile, a non-UK resident would be hit with a £91,250 stamp duty charge.

Mitchell said: ‘London is performing worse when compared with regions like the North East because the stamp duty on more expensive properties worth £900,000 or more has acted as a drag on housing activity. 

‘Generally speaking, we’re seeing a migration away from the South of England, with inflation and stamp duty making it significantly harder for buyers searching for entry-level properties. 

‘The first-time buyer exemption on stamp duty is also still set at too low a level to help in London, so aspiring homeowners are pushed to look elsewhere.’

Mitchell added: ‘While rural areas reap the benefits of remote working, highly urban and densely populated areas have suffered as a result of the loss of incentive to live near work. 

‘In spite of prophecies of a mass return to office work, we’re unlikely to see another major shift in the opposite direction any time soon. 

‘Other factors influencing a fall in house price performance are often very specific to the area in question. 

‘For instance, in Aberdeen, the decline in house prices is directly linked to what is happening in the oil and gas market. 

‘As a key residential hub for workers in these industries, the significant downturn in the oil and gas sectors has caused a notable decline in the city’s housing performance.’

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk