Birmingham’s buy-to-let market worst hit by falling property prices

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by Lin Freestone

A survey has been carried out to identify the ten areas in England and Wales which have experienced the greatest fall in annual property prices.

Conducted by property website mouseprice.com, the study found that owners of buy-to-let properties are among the worst hit by falls in housing prices, with canalside flats in Birmingham suffering the most.

Properties west of the city centre of Birmingham, mostly new-build flats, have fallen in price to an average value of £153,500, a drop of 17.3%.

The research discovered that price falls have not discriminated according to how much a property cost in the first place or how desirable an area was considered to be. These areas attracted the most buy-to-let investors during the boom and have recently suffered due to supply outstripping demand.

The survey was based on Land Registry sale price statistics, updated with valuation data gathered from surveyors. Average values were narrowed down to postcode level using an automated system. Streets where the highest number of properties sold at a loss were then identified within these areas.

In addition to the 17.3% fall in value in the city centre canal area of Birmingham where average prices dropped from £185,500 to £153,500, the other areas where average values have fallen the most are in Deansgate, Manchester, with a fall of 17.1%; Elmwood Lane in Leeds by 16.3%; and Millsands, Sheffield by 15.1%

In the south-east, Erebus Drive, Thamesmead in south-east London suffered a drop in value of 16.9%; values in Abbey Road, Barking, east London fell by 14.7%; and Russell Road, Barnet by 12.8%.

The remaining three areas in the top ten are Lakenham, Norwich where prices fell by 14.8%; Dame Dorothy Street, Sunderland with a drop of 13.7%, and Walton Hall Avenue, Liverpool, where prices fell from £99,500 to £87,000, giving a fall in value of 12.6%.