Home sales in 44pc drop

Sales of homes in Telford are down by more than 40 per cent on last year, a county estate agent revealed today.

The value of some homes across the region has also dropped by up to 40 per cent, but detached homes in Wellington have gone up by about one per cent.

The figures were revealed in research by DB Roberts & Partners using Land Registry figures for sales completed in the second quarter of 2009 compared to 2008.

Sales director Joanne Culley said: "What is most noticeable is the dramatic drop in the number of completed sales, which are down by 44 per cent across all TF postcodes."

DB Roberts' analysts looked at a sample of eight TF postcodes, both inside and outside the Telford boundaries, and in each area the results are split between detached, semi-detached and terraced properties.

The clear winners of the areas reviewed are detached houses in the Wellington area (TF1), which showed a price increase of one per cent in the past 12 months. But the agents say as the number of sales has halved the relatively small sample size could give a distorted result.

The next closest in the detached category is Newport (TF10) where average values have reduced by only eight per cent.

Postcode zone TF7, which contains a large number of former Telford Corporation houses, showed a significant 37 per cent downturn in the average price achieved for terraced houses. Semi-deta-cheds in TF7 reduced by 21 per cent in the same period.

Ms Culley said: "We think the exceptional figures in TF7, and to a lesser extent in terraced houses in other postcodes, reflect changes in the buy-to-let market.

"In 2007/08 many amateur landlords decided to invest in affordable houses, which resulted in more competition in the traditional first-time buyer sector.

"Increased demand inevitably led to rapid price inflation, which has now reversed as investors come back out of the market."

Across all house types, TF2 (Muxton, Priorslee, Oakengates) saw average price reductions of around 13 per cent over 12 months, while in TF4 both detached and terraced took a 14 per cent knock. Semi-detacheds showed virtually no reduction – although there was a significant drop in the number of houses sold.

Market Drayton (TF9) took a hit of 34 per cent on detached property values, with semi-detached down by 18 per cent and terraced reduced by 16 per cent.

By Business Editor Amy Bould