"Although December is traditional a quieter month for property sales, it’s likely that the ongoing Southern Rail dispute is playing a major role in this slowdown"
House price growth since October 2016 along the main Southern Rail routes has been less than half that across the rest of the UK, as a series of strikes by the RMT and ASLEF on the lead up to Christmas and New Year took its toll on local property markets.
While average house prices across the UK over the past three months increased by 2.5%, according to the latest Halifax House Price Index, average price growth was less than 1% along the Brighton Mainline, Mainline West and East routes, used by hundreds of thousands of commuters every week.
Only four locations along the three main Southern Rail routes – Hove, Shoreham-by-Sea, Bishopstone and Seaford – saw price growth above 1.3% since October, and that is still only just over half the average price growth experienced UK-wide. Property prices in Pulborough (0.5%) and Lewes (0.43%) have barely moved over the past three months.
Alex Gosling, CEO of online estate agents, HouseSimple.com, had this to say: “House price growth along Southern Rail routes has crawled along over the past three months as many areas of the country have seen strong growth.
Although December is traditional a quieter month for property sales, it’s likely that the ongoing Southern Rail dispute is playing a major role in this slowdown in house prices in local markets, as prospective buyers will have understandable concerns over the reliability of the service. Until the dispute is resolved, buyers may not want to commit to a purchase.
However, there will be some determined buyers who may see this situation as an opportunity to negotiate a good price if there are sellers who need to move and are willing to consider lower offers in order to sell quickly.”
