HOUSE PRICES CHEAPER IN HYNDBURN

A new Halifax survey has shown that Accrington is the second cheapest place to live in England, results showing that properties in Accrington have a value of £935 per square metre.

Councillor Clare Cleary, Cabinet Member for Housing, commented, “The average house price figures can give a distorted picture in a place like Hyndburn because we have such a large number of smaller two bedroomed terraced houses, and these are often at the lower end of the price range.  This does not mean, of course, that the housing market is different here from anywhere else in the North of England, simply that the larger number of smaller houses sold in the area impacts on the statistics.“

Councillor Cleary added, “According to the latest figures published by the land registry the average price for a house in the area is £99,300. The upside of having a predominantly terraced stock is that it is still possible for people to buy a relatively affordable house. Having said that, we have put a lot of effort in over the past few years, talking to developers about diversifying the housing stock by building more three and four bedroomed houses in the area. Right now, we have active discussions with developers about several sites across the Borough where we expect this sort of development to take place. This is exactly what happened along Blackburn Road in Accrington where we demolished some of the old terraces and replaced them with newer larger houses. These have proved very popular with buyers and virtually everything that has been built there over the past three years has sold within months of going up for sale.”