North East property market remains stable ahead of General Election

The average price of a property in the region has dipped by 0.2% over the last month, and now stands at £166,125.

That is just £441 less than the average price at the end of April.

The figures were collated by Keep It Simple (KIS) Housing NOW, which pulls together data and expert market analysis of the KIS Intelligence Service.

Previously this year, house values had risen by 1.9% in April, after falling 0.1% in February and March.

An above average price drop in the last month was in South Shields, which saw a fall of 2.2%.

However, there were strong performances in Easington, Peterlee and Houghton-le-Spring, which saw rises of 2.2%, 1.6% and 1.5% respectively. Eight of the 20 areas surveyed in the North East saw prices go up.

Durham City had a drop of 1.5%.

Meanwhile, average regional property values are 5.8% higher than 12 months ago, with the average property valued £9,150 more in May 2017 than May 2016.

Prices in all 20 of the areas surveyed are higher than this time last year, albeit only by 0.01% in Peterlee.

Rents in the North East also fell slightly in the last month, to £576 per calendar month, which represents a fall of £9, and £2 less than this time last year.

Easington continues to be the cheapest place to rent in the North East of the areas surveyed, according to the data, at an average cost of £385 a month.

The region's buy to let capital remains Peterlee, with an average return of 6.1% for investors.

Other strong performers are Sunderland and Jarrow, with each showing a return of 4.9%.

Ajay Jagota, founder and managing director of Keep It Simple, said: "I predicted four weeks ago was that we would see little change in house prices this month with both buyers and sellers adopting a ‘wait and see’ outlook ahead of next week’s General Election - and so it has proved.

“What will be fascinating to see is whether this week’s result releases some pent up energy, pushing prices up.

"This is certainly what happened in 2015, when North East property prices rose by 4.8% in the two months after the General Election.

“A hung Parliament or slim majority could have the opposite effect, but what’s really striking about our figures is how resilient they show the North East property market to have been over the past 12 months, despite the uncertainty of Brexit and another General Election.

“Prices are currently almost 6% higher than they were twelve months ago, adding more than £9,000 to the value of the average property.

"In the case of Blyth, it’s nearly 13% and £15,000 higher.

“With rents practically unchanged in the same period, dare I say that the North East property market is strong and stable – good news for both the many and the few?”