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Feb 2023

Housing

Harrogate house prices buoyant, says property expert Kempston Parkes

Published: 6 Feb 2023, 13:08 GMT

Updated: 6 Feb 2023, 14:12 GMT

by John Grainger

This story is sponsored by Kempston Parkes.

House prices may plummet elsewhere, but in Harrogate they’ll remain buoyant, the town’s foremost chartered surveyor has said.

Andrew Kempston-Parkes was speaking as one of the biggest national lenders, Nationwide, revealed that UK house prices fell for the fifth consecutive month in January. He said:

“I’ve seen four booms and crashes in my career, and what I know about Harrogate is that when that happens, we’re affected the least.

"Harrogate gets back to its highest values quicker than anywhere outside London. We’re very resilient.

“There might be a contraction across England and Wales over the next 12 months, but it will be relatively shallow, at just 2 to 3%, and here there’ll be no contraction at all.”

Nationwide also warned that “strong economic headwinds” made it unlikely that sales figures would improve soon, meaning it would be “hard for the market to regain much momentum in the near term”.

Mr Kempston-Parkes, who has more than 25 years’ experience in the property industry, said other market indicators told a different story:

“If they were concerned, they wouldn’t be offering 95% loan-to-value mortgages.”

January’s Rightmove data, for example, showed a slight increase in house prices nationally, and lending institutions have done little to tighten availability of loans.

Several factors weigh in Harrogate’s favour according to Mr Kempston-Parkes, including its proximity to Leeds and York, its high levels of employment, the clean environment, good schools, and even custom from the American base at Menwith Hill. He said:

“Harrogate and its environs are still a destination place – people come to live in a spa town in a rural area. Communications are excellent – there are six trains a day to King’s Cross.

“I had a client just yesterday from London who is moving up here to work from home three times a week and stay a couple of nights in London. There are still a lot of people wanting to live here. Half our clients are from outside the town.

“My experience tells me that if there’s any correction here it’ll be mild and we’ll recover more quickly and better than anywhere else. The property market will remain strong.”

Mr Kempston-Parkes earned his professional qualifications form the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in 1997, and founded Kempston-Parkes Chartered Surveyors in 2011. It now employs 14 people from its offices in central Harrogate.

Find out more:

Kempston-Parkes Chartered Surveyors provide surveys and valuations for all purposes, including purchase, inheritance tax, capital gains tax, matrimonial assessments, boundary disputes and Land Registry plans.

For more information, go to www.kempston-parkes.co.uk, or for a confidential conversation about your requirements, call 01423 789111.