Dr Arvydas Jadevicius and Dr Simon Huston, lecturers in real estate and finance in the School of Real Estate and Land Management (RELM) at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU), have produced a report comparing the 2015 property market predictions for Gloucestershire with the rest of the UK.

The report examines the most recent property market data by the Land Registry (2015), which suggests that the average price of property in the UK in 2014 increased by 7% with the average price starting at £177,766 in England and Wales, but with wide spatial variation. House prices in Gloucestershire have risen in line with the UK average; 6.6% since 2014, while house prices in the South West region as a whole have risen 4.4%. Comparatively, average property prices have risen by 16.3% in London, 10.8% in the South East, 3% in Wales, and 1.5% in the North West.

Regional housing price levels for the South West remains 4% above the national average at £184,832, compared with £110,548 in the North West and £99,132 for the North East. For the South West, property consultancy predictions for 2015 are somewhat mixed. Knight Frank, Hamptons and JLL predicted a moderate 4% price inflation, while Savills predicted a more prudent 2.5% increase. In general, property prices in the UK are expected to rise by 3-4% during 2015. Dr Simon Huston and Dr Arvy Jadevicius stated that: “Unforeseen shocks notwithstanding, it is reasonable to assume that house prices will continue to grow at a moderate rate in the region during 2015.”

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