Harrogate is one of the top property hotspots in the UK

The spa town of Harrogate is currently the hottest property market in Yorkshire, and one of the hottest markets in the UK, with house sales up a fifth (19.9%) in 2018, according to our research.

Housesimple looked at the most up-to-date Land Registry data* on monthly property sales since the start of 2018 and compared total sales in Q2 with Q1. Harrogate has seen the biggest rise in sales during these two quarters than any other major town and city in Yorkshire.

Across the entire Yorkshire & the Humber region**, property sales were up 11.1% comparing Q2 vs Q1 2018 - that’s almost x4 higher than the increase in completed sales across the north of England (3%) as a whole.

At the county level, property sales were up across all counties, with total sales rising 24.4% in East Riding of Yorkshire in Q2 vs Q1, and up 15.5% in North Yorkshire. The following table shows the percentage increase in sales across Yorkshire.

County/REGION	% increase in total properties sold Q2 vs Q1 2018
East Riding of Yorkshire	24.2%
North Yorkshire	15.5%
South Yorkshire	10.5%
West Yorkshire	7.0%
YORKSHIRE & THE HUMBER	11.1%

At the town and city level, three out of the top four towns for property sales in 2018 were in the county of South Yorkshire. Doncaster (17.0%), Rotherham (14.7%) and Barnsley (14.0%) all registered double-digit growth in completed sales in Q2 vs Q1 2018. While, completed property sales in Leeds, the largest city in Yorkshire by population, were up 5.0% in Q2 vs Q1.

The following table shows increase/decrease in completed property sales in major Yorkshire towns and cities, comparing Q2 with Q1 2018. The data is ranked highest to lowest.

Town/City	County	% increase/(decrease) in total properties sold Q2 vs Q1 2018
Harrogate	North Yorkshire	19.9%
Doncaster	South Yorkshire	17.0%
Rotherham	South Yorkshire	14.7%
Barnsley	South Yorkshire	14.0%
Middlesbrough	North Yorkshire	12.7%
Wakefield	West Yorkshire	12.2%
Halifax	West Yorkshire	8.8%
Hull	East Riding of Yorkshire	8.6%
Huddersfield	West Yorkshire	6.7%
Leeds	West Yorkshire	5.0%
Scarborough	North Yorkshire	1.2%
Bradford	West Yorkshire	-0.4%
Sheffield	South Yorkshire	-1.6%
York	North Yorkshire	-2.3%

Sam Mitchell, CEO of online estate agents Housesimple.com, comments:

“Yorkshire typifies how the landscape of the UK property market has been turned on its head in 2018. While the south of the country has caught a cold, the north is witnessing a mini housing boom. And Yorkshire is the shining light in the north with affordable property and strong local economies driving a healthy level of sales. 

“First-time buyer interest is strong in the area, with initiatives such as Help to Buy and the freeze on stamp duty helping to make the first step onto the property ladder more achievable. We also expect to see more buy-to-let landlords investing in the north next year. Rental yields more attractive than in the south, and in the face of the punitive tax regime brought in by the current government, landlords are looking for higher yields rather than hiking rents. We should see cities such as Leeds and Sheffield, which have large student populations, benefitting from this landlord migration.”