£1.94bn – The total value of all Morecambe Property Market

“How much would it cost to buy all the properties in Morecambe?”

This fascinating question was posed by the 11-year-old son of one of my Morecambe landlords when they both popped into my offices.  I thought to myself then,  I would sit down and calculate what the total value of all the properties in Morecambe are worth … and just for fun, work out how much they have gone up in value since his son was born back in the autumn of 2005.

In the last 11 years, since the autumn of 2005, the total value of Morecambe property has increased by 31% or £458.9 million to a total of £1.94 billion.  Interesting, when you consider the FTSE100 has risen by 30.78% and inflation (i.e. the UK Retail Price Index) rose by 37% during the same 11 years.

When I delved deeper into the numbers, the average price currently being paid by Morecambe households stands at £142,376.  Next I split the property market down into individual property types in Morecambe; the average numbers come out like this.

 

Morecambe Property Market
Average Value of a Detached Property Average Value of a Semi-Detached Property Average Value of a Terraced/Town House Property Average Value of an Apartment
£196,095 £151,635 £101,035 £82,250

 

It got even more fascinating when I multiplied the total number of each type of property by the average value.  Even though detached houses are more expensive, when you compare them with the much cheaper semi-detached houses, you can quite clearly see detached properties are no match in terms of total pound note value of the semi-detached houses.

£194bn - The total value pf all Morecambe Property Market

 

So, what does this all mean for Morecambe?  Well as we enter the unchartered waters of 2017 and beyond, even though property values are already declining in certain parts of the London property market, the outlook in Morecambe remains relatively good as over the last five years, the local property market was a lot more sensible than central London’s.

Morecambe house values will remain resilient for several reasons.  Firstly, demand for rental property remains strong with continued immigration and population growth.  Secondly, with 0.25 per cent interest rates, borrowing has never been so cheap and finally the simple lack of new house building in Morecambe not keeping up with current demand, let alone eating into years and years of under investment – means only one thing – yes it might be a bit of a bumpy ride over the next 12 to 24 months but, in the medium term, property ownership and property investment in Morecambe has always, and will always, ride out the storm.

In the coming weeks, I will look in greater detail at my thoughts for the 2017 Morecambe Property Market. As always, all my articles can be found on line at www.lancasterpropertyblog.co.uk