It’s been a turbulent time for the housing market this year.

Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the market has undergone a series of changes with house sales and property prices fluctuating this year.

The UK also experienced a property boom in the summer. In August, Rightmove’s house price index reported a record high in the number of monthly sales.

Rishi Sunak also announced a stamp duty holiday for properties less than £500,000 a scheme which ends in March.

Gráinne Gilmore, Head of Research at Zoopla (real estate company), said people are also reassessing their living needs and the repercussions of staying side have encouraged people to search for homes with gardens and more space.

She explained: “The desire for additional space is reflected in our data which shows that houses with three or more bedrooms are selling fastest.

“Gardens are at the top of the list of many home buyers’ requirements, but keywords such as ‘annexe’ ‘detached’, ‘rural’ have also started to move up the search-term charts this year - in a further sign that more people are looking for additional space.” 

While we might be well aware of the UK’s property market have you considered how it compares to Bolton’s?

Here is a rundown of how Bolton’ property market has changed and fluctuated this year:

The number of houses purchased

Nick Holt from Bolton Estate Agents, Regency Estates said Bolton’s property market before lockdown was buoyant.

He added: “Houses sold easily if priced right, and there was a large pool of buyers all waiting for all properties.

“The market has had much steadier and manageable growth since 2012, with all levels of the property ladder proving popular.”

As you would expect, lockdown and the coronavirus pandemic will reduce the number of house viewings and property purchases made in a given month.

This is exactly what these figures (sources from Land Registry) suggest; 2020’s property transaction figures were consistently lower than those in 2019.

As you can see, the number of houses sold in Bolton was average before lockdown was announced in March; in February, 2020’s figures even overtook 2019’s.

In April, 2020’s figures were down 54% on the year before.

In July, lockdown restrictions were eased and this extra freedom is reflected by the property figure; 421 property transactions were made in Bolton this month.

Despite the slight summer increase, the figures were no way near the figures from 2019; in fact, they were 44 per cent lower.

However, Mr Holt added that it is a surprise to the Recency Estates team that this figure even lifted at all.

He added: “When lockdown was initially announced the expectation amongst myself and other local agents was that the market would flatline. 

“However, eight months later, our valuations and enquiries are higher than pre-Covid, and Bolton seems to be improving rather than faltering!”

House prices in Bolton

Gráinne Gilmore, Head of Research at Zoopla (real estate company), said the housing sales market is set to have it’s busiest Christmas period in more than a decade- hence the increase of property price.

She explained: “As a result of the increased demand and activity in the market, average UK house price growth is currently up 3.5% on the year , and could rise to 4% growth by the end of December .

According to the figures, the average property price in Bolton has increased by five per cent since the start of lockdown (March to September).

According to the data from Land Registry Bolton property prices increased by 1 per cent when lockdown was announced in March and the average property price was £140,925.

However, the biggest property price increase was in September when property prices increased by 2.5 per cent on the month before; during this month the average property price was £148,247.

Between June and September of this year, Bolton property prices increased by five per cent.

In September of this year, Bolton property prices were 7.1 per cent higher than the September before.

Nick added that one of the surprising changes to the Bolton property market is the rental market, which has seen a “dramatic increase” in the last six months.

He added: “Our office alone has seen rental prices increase between 10-15% making rental yields very attractive for investors biggest changes.”

But what will the Bolton property market be like in the coming months? According to Nick Holt, it’s “anyone’s guess”.

However, he added that “the current trend bodes well and if the interest rates remain at a record low then the future of the Bolton property market will continue to look bright!”