Brighton riding out crunch fears

Friday, 06, Jun 2008 10:56

Property in the south-coast resort town of Brighton is likely to ride out the credit crunch.

And it is downsizing Londoners who are likely to buoy the local market, argues Brighton and Hove Family Homes.

"A lot of prices have come down and they are now at a good level," said Charlie Snell, director of Brighton and Hove Family Homes

"I don't see them coming down too much more. I think that Brighton will continue to be a bit of an economic bubble in that it's an attractive place to live and whatever happens elsewhere, downsizing and downshifting Londoners will move to Brighton, as we are seeing day in and day out.

"This will keep property prices high, if not stable at the least."

Figures from the Land Registry show prices in Brighton and Hove increased by 0.7 per cent in April, with a year-on-year increase of 7.2 per cent.

This compares to a monthly drop of 0.2 per cent across the country as a whole, with annual growth significantly lower at just 2.7 per cent.

The average property in the city costs £237,372 according to the official figures.

Furthermore, according to Halifax Estate Agents rural areas quality of life survey, conducted in May this year, the south-east region offers the best quality of life.

Overall thirty-two of the top 50 regions of the UK by quality of life score are in southern England, finds the Halifax research.

"Here, it has stabilised," said Mr Snell.

"We did have a period of a little bit of panic by sellers in the last couple of months with people thinking they had to sell otherwise the price was going to crash, but I think that this has now stabilised."

Chris O'Toole