Study: UK’s Best Property Haggle Hotspots Revealed
Finding the best property haggle hotspots can be a little tricky. For many of us buying a house will be the largest financial investment of our lives so if there was a way to find a bargain property easier i'm sure must of us would want to know without a second thought!
This is where strategic knowledge and planning comes into play. It’s not just about understanding how to negotiate the best offer for your house, but about researching those key areas of the UK where your brazenly low offer is most likely to be accepted.
Let's break this down into sections and analyse each one.
1) Property Haggle Hotspots
In this section we'll look at:
- Buy-to-let or Buy-to-live
- Region by region national statistics
- UK wide town focus
i) Buy-to-Let or Buy-to-Live
Determining what is meant by property haggle hotspots in the UK first necessitates understanding your reason for purchasing. Are you looking for a home in which to live? Are you searching for an investment opportunity, buy-to-let or ‘doer-upper’ houses? You might be looking for commercial property, land, or a cheap rural property where you can combine a home and business venture.
Your needs will have a direct bearing on areas of the country that offer the best haggling opportunities. For example, you might be quite happy to purchase a bargain property in Cornwall to rent out, but if you’re searching for a home where you can daily commute to your Central London workplace, then such a house isn’t likely to tick the right boxes.
Before you even consider the property haggling opportunities you need to determine your priorities. Once you’ve done that, you can start nailing the locations that are ripe for your bargain-basement offer to be accepted.
ii) Region by Region National Statistics
Below is a chart detailing the price change by region for England
| Region | Average price March 2021 | Monthly change since February 2022 (%) |
|---|---|---|
| East Midlands | £240,329 | 1.2% |
| East of England | £343,900 | -0.8% |
| London | £523,666 | -0.9% |
| North East | £154,913 | 1.1% |
| North West | £205,121 | 0.4% |
| South East | £384,996 | 1.1% |
| South West | £313,834 | 0.1% |
| West Midlands | £240,528 | 1.1% |
| Yorkshire & the Humber | £199,607 | -0.2% |
*Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-house-price-index-for-march-2022
Data from the government produced HPI (house price index) shows that the London region of the UK has undergone the most significant price falls since February 2022, -0.9% to be exact.
London has seen a decrease of -1.1% which puts them around the middle in terms of overall national price fall.
Yorkshire & the South West have suffered the lowest decreases with price falls of only -0.2% & -0.1%.
The East Midlands has shot up with the monthly house price rising up by 1.2%.
While these rises and falls are important data when it comes to working out the best place in the UK to haggle on property, it’s necessary to delve deeper into the price statistics of particular towns and areas within each region. This makes it possible to determine properties where owners will be more open to greater offers.
iii) UK Wide Town Focus
Towns in the UK offering the cheapest property in the UK often represent great haggling opportunities, and this holds true for council houses as well. The locations are surprisingly diverse. All ten in a recently published list are in vibrant locales, many of which boast planned or current regeneration, not to mention university towns that can be attractive places for property investment purchases.
These are the 11 cheapest towns and cities in the UK in which to buy.
- Middlesbrough
- Bradford
- Sunderland
- Grimsby
- Shildon
- Peterlee
- Stanley
- Lancashire
- Liverpool
- Keighley
- Birkenhead
When you combine these locations with the data from the HPI index about house price falls, it’s a good bet that owners of property in these towns and cities will be more open to offers in order to clinch a sale.
2) Repossessions, Empty Houses & Micro-Property Climates
The 2 main areas this section will cover will be:
- Purchasing empty houses and repossessions
- Local fluctuations
The number of empty houses within England stands at over 200,000, and if you cross reference the locations of these with the cheapest property areas already mentioned, then similarities become apparent.
Bradford, Stanley and the Peterlee stand out (the latter 2 because they are close to Middlesbrough & Sunderland) making these prime locations in which the buyer is in strong position to broker a great deal.
It’s also interesting to notice quite how many empty properties there are in London. It’s easy to mistakenly discount the capital as a place to bag a bargain property, but this certainly isn’t the case.
The UK's house prices are known to be a little wild at times so its always better to take things slowly rather than trying to jump the gun.
Other data to look at is that of repossessions, as this can also be an indication of prime areas where you might be able to snatch up a deal.
According to Money Saving Expert, it can be possible to snag yourself a repossessed property at up to 30% below market value. While many are offered for sale via auction, this certainly isn’t always the case.
Estate agents may have them on their books and repossessions might also be listed in local papers.
Below is a chart detailing the latest figures supplied by the government which shows the number of repossession sales in the UK in January 2022
Related: How to solve your house repossession puzzle
Local Fluctuations
Even in affluent areas, and therefore not locations where you’d expect to find bargain property for sale, there’s always the potential to haggle. This might be due to the circumstances of the vendor (something you can’t account for) or local happenings that create a (short or long-term) microclimate.
For instance, a few years ago the town of Northampton in the Midlands was experiencing (and still is in some areas) employment growth, has great transport links, and is becoming an epicentre for big distribution networks. There’s much regeneration work within the town and extensive building of new build properties. All the elements necessary for a good property investment and prices are buoyant.
However, the prospect of an enormous rail hub to serve this expansion is hanging over local residents (and is set to rumble on for many years). While this won’t affect property prices within the town itself, some of the outlying villages are in danger of being encroached upon by the huge footprint of the planned works.
This has led to more properties being placed on the market and languishing there for periods far exceeding the local norm. Does this mean that you might be able to steal a deal here? There’s no guaranteed answer, but it certainly stacks the odds in the buyer’s favour.
3) Highest & Lowest Area Discount Statistics
According to Getagent.co.uk the average homeowner in England and Wales achieved 98% of asking price in 2021, up from 96% in 2020. However, once again, there are large fluctuations in regions, cities and towns.
While towns such as Sheffield (S11) & Pembrokeshire (SA42) typically sold for around 100% of their asking price, those in Gwynedd (LL45), Northumberland (NE69) & Middlesbrough (TS2) sold for over 10% than their asking price.
Areas such as Camden (WC1R) and Bradford (BD1), make good property haggle hotspots where property sold well below the original ask, with average discounts of 20% and 15% respectively.
The 2 tables below show the 10 postcodes with the biggest discounts on asking price & the highest percentage of asking price that was achieved in 2021.
*Source: https://getagent.co.uk
4) Higher Risk Strategies
The two higher risk strategies we will look at in this section include:
- Purchasing for the longer term
- Fortune favors the bold
Purchasing for the longer term
Your attitude to risk will also have a bearing on areas you might choose to take a punt on. This isn’t solely the places you might search for bargain property in the UK, but the type on which you invest your money. These could include properties such as:
- Those that don’t have planning permission for desired works or extensions.
- Listed properties that may or may not get approval for works.
- Purchasing a commercial unit with the intention to convert to flats (without the necessary change of use legislation in place). Permitted Development Rights were subjected to new regulations in May 2019, making this a more viable route (and one that might make you more tempted to bid on a commercial property with a view to change its use).
- Purchasing land where you can apply for planning permission and then sub-divide into plots to be sold on for profit.
Of course, if you’re looking for a bargain property in which to live, then you’re already purchasing for the longer term. For those looking for more extended investment opportunities then there are many options to combine with the location of where to find a property bargain.
These include:
- Buying off plan
- Bulk purchasing
- Student property
- HMO investing
For property investors looking to extend their portfolio, diversification is key – as is due diligence and research.
Instead of following the masses, think outside the box as to where events and circumstances might push the prices up in the future.
Investors might want to consider the (eventual) completion of HS2, and areas that might in the future represent more attractive places in which to live.
It's also worth taking into account the time of year you choose to invest as some months are better than others.
Related: The best time to sell your house
To Sum Up
Based off current data (The number of empty houses within England cross referenced with the cheapest property areas you can buy properties) the best place to bag a property bargain would be:
- Bradford
If we go by the data based on the towns/postcodes with biggest discounts on asking price, the top 3 would be:
- Camden
- Westminster
- Bradford
When determining the best UK regions in which to haggle a disproportionate amount from the asking price the following are the key take-home messages:
- Some of the most affluent areas of the UK offer haggling opportunities, such as Westminster & the City of London.
- Local projects and plans lead to ‘micro-climates’ in all areas, and the resulting prospect that vendors might accept reduced offers.
- The amount of empty properties in a town or area appears to have a direct correlation on the extent of the reduction that can haggled.
- Higher risk property purchasing strategies can represent some of the biggest discounts.
We hope the information provided in our article will help you find that (bargain) property of dreams!
