A Leeds postcode recorded the strongest house-price growth among locations associated with some of the UK’s largest music festivals, research from ASAP reveals.
The sales progression specialist analysed TwentyEA data covering six markets linked with Latitude, Wilderness, Camp Bestival, Boardmasters, Reading Festival and Leeds Festival.
Property prices in Leeds’ LS2 postcode increased by 24.7% over the past year, rising from £181,542 to £226,423.
Despite its strong price growth, LS2 recorded the study’s longest transaction period, with an average of 252 days between instruction and completion.
TRANSACTION DELAYS
Its exchange rate fell from 50% to 36.4%, while 34.8% of transactions fell through.
The OX7 postcode associated with Wilderness Festival was the only other market to record annual price growth, with average values rising by 3.8%. Its average transaction period fell by 11 days to 197 days, the fastest among the six locations.
Prices fell by 10.9% in NR34, where Latitude is held at Henham Park, while BH20 around Camp Bestival recorded a 9.3% decline.
Values dropped by 7.3% in Boardmasters’ TR8 postcode, while Reading’s RG1 market remained comparatively stable with a 0.6% fall.
STRONGEST ACTIVITY
BH20 delivered the strongest sales performance, with 56.2% of properties reaching exchange. OX7 followed at 55%.
TR8 recorded the weakest exchange rate at 34.9%, with 65.1% of listings withdrawn from the market.
More than half of RG1 listings were withdrawn, while 55.5% underwent a price change as sellers adjusted their expectations.
Katy Billany (main picture, inset), Sales Director at ASAP, says: “Our analysis takes a look beyond the festival season to reveal how the housing markets in these destinations are really performing, and it highlights just how varied local property markets are.
“One challenge remains consistent across every location we analysed—the length of time it takes to complete a property transaction.
“Even in OX7, which recorded the fastest transactions, buyers and sellers are still waiting more than six months on average to move home.”
Billany says the Government’s proposed homebuying reforms offered an opportunity to reduce delays and improve transaction certainty.
