Prime properties in York: Property news update

Four bedroom detached house for sale, Gathurst Road, Orrell WN5. On with Borron Shaw at £450,000

Reports on 'prime' properties tend to concentrate on the most expensive homes in London, but a new report from Savills focuses instead on York.

It indicates that in York itself, the value of 'prime' property is just over eight per cent above its 2007 height (and up 4.6 per cent over the past year), but that outside the city it is on average 19 per cent lower than seven years ago.

"Since the recession, uncertainty around job security has kept employees close to their desks and this, together with the lack of house price growth outside the city, has left homeowners in York reluctant to make the move out," says Sophie Chick from Savills. "Another key source of demand in the city centre is from downsizers, often moving from the countryside back to a more urban location with better access to local amenities."

Around 17 per cent of 'prime' property buyers this year in York have come from London, compared to 11 per cent last year and three per cent in 2012.

Live in a Tudor home in Wigan

The four bedroom detached house (pictured above) in Gathurst Road, Orrell, Wigan, is on the market with Borron Shaw for £450,000. Dating back to the early 1600s, features include stained glass windows from the 1800s, a wine cellar, and Tudor wall panels in the hallway.

Parents and first-time buyers

Parents hand over an average of £23,000 to their children to help finance their deposit on their first home, according to Shelter research.

A fifth of parents that did so using savings they had held back for retirement or elderly care, while a quarter said that helping their children meant they were forced to cut back on their everyday spending.

However, 60 per cent of parents said they are unable to save any money for their children’s future purchases.

Average time to sell a house

According to Rightmove, it now takes 66 days on average to sell a house compared to 74 a year ago, 64 over the previous two months, and 90 in January.

Dream bathroom

According to a poll of nearly 3,000 homeowners in the UK by www.ukBathrooms.com, the top three features men would like in their ideal bathroom are a multimedia plasma television, followed by an all-in-one urinal and toilet, then a floor sunken bath.

Women's top choice was a standalone bath, then an open walk-in shower, and in third place, floor to ceiling windows.