Stoke estate agents dispute Halifax’s house market figures
According to mortgage lender Halifax, Stoke-on-Trent was the top-performing area of the UK for the housing market in 2024 – but local agents are telling a very different story.
The Halifax’s latest housing report suggests that at 17.2% Stoke’s house prices saw some of the UK’s biggest rises last year but the area’s estate agents are claiming the true figure is much lower.
And, to prove the point, the owner of Belvoir’s Stoke-on-Trent office Ramona Hirschi (pictured) did her own research. Using official data from the Land Registry, Bank of England and Office for National Statistics, she found the figure for house price growth was closer to 4% in 2024.
Hirschi told the BBC she thought it was unlikely Stoke was seeing the UK’s highest growth and says the average price in November was £142,500 rather than the Halifax’s figure of £227,002.
We have not been seeing that for the last two years.”
Hirschi added: “If you had 17% growth, you would expect lots of buyers. You’d expect every house on the market to sell within a few days, offers above asking price.
“But we, and others, have not been seeing that for the last two years.”
Steady and sustainable 4%
She says that just 12 months earlier, Stoke’s estate agents had been reporting prices were stagnant.
“Now, we can say price rises, on average, are up 4%, which is steady and sustainable.
“It will be keeping in line with inflation and wage growth, so it’s much better for the local economy.”
When Halifax was approached by The Neg about the disparity, it said its figures were sourced from its own database, which came from offers of mortgages that had been granted and based on a minimum of 150 transactions. The lender said it was therefore not comparable with other data sets, which use different parameters.
