Birmingham Commonwealth Games likely to boost city’s housing market
The upcoming Commonwealth Games could boost Birmingham’s housing market by as much as 15%, according to new analysis by estate and lettings agent Barrows and Forrester.
Due to begin this Thursday 28 July, the 22nd Commonwealth Games are due has previously had a positive effect on the housing market performance in host cities.
The UK has held the games four times since 1970 and evidence shows that in the year following each event, property values have increased by an average of 14.9% across each host city.
Managing Director of Barrows and Forrester, James Forrester, commented: ‘Birmingham has already enjoyed an extensive and ongoing period of regeneration and future plans to continue this regeneration will further cement us as the UK’s second city.
‘The choice to host the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham is testament to how far we’ve come in this respect and this privilege will not only help to put the city further on the map, it will bring a huge boost to the local economy and will entice more businesses, and people, into calling the city home in the process.
‘This heightened demand will inevitably help to cultivate local property prices as more buyers enter the market. You need only look at the huge boost the Olympic regeneration project brought to the London Borough of Newham to see that an exciting time lies ahead, not only for Birmingham’s housing market, but for the city as a whole.’
Currently, house prices in Birmingham average at £222,834, but with a Commonwealth house price boost at around 14.9% this could raise property values to £255,934 by next year.
Local house prices in Edinburgh, host city in 1970, were just £5,487, but reached £6,799 a year on – an annual rise of 23.9%.
When it again hosted in 1986, the city’s average house price jumped by 5.8% from £41,490 at the start, to £43,899 a year later.
Manchester hosted the games in 2002 and saw house prices rise by 24.1% afterwards, while the average house price increased by 5.6% a year after hosting in 2014.
In related news, funding worth £1m has been awarded to 247 projects in Birmingham through the second round of a council-run scheme to help people celebrate the oncoming Commonwealth Games.
Photo by Tom Podmore