Perhaps the northeast of England’s most famous city, Newcastle-upon-Tyne started life as a Roman fort and is known today as the home of the “Geordies”, the “Toon Army”, “Newkie Brown” Ale and the start (or end depending on your perspective!) of Hadrian’s Wall.
However, for many it is still synonymous with the influx of heavy industry in the North East during the Industrial Revolution, with ship and steam train construction at its heart.
The city is still home to a host of iconic architecture such as the Grade I listed train station, Grey Street and the Tyne Bridge, which provide a strong link to its industrial past. However, the Newcastle of today has come far since the postwar industrial decline to become a hub for the creative, hospitality and technology industries in a seamless blend of heritage and modernity. In quite the reversal of fortunes, the city also has plans to become one of the UK’s first carbon neutral cities and has been recognised as one of the world’s leading cities for tackling climate change.
Homebuyers are attracted to Newcastle thanks to its great retail and leisure amenities, vibrant nightlife and café culture and proximity to both the stunning north east coastline less than 30 minutes away and the scenic Northumberland National Park and North Pennines ANOB, both of which are only 40 minutes’ drive from the city centre. Within the city of Newcastle itself is also a surprising amount of green, outdoor space such as the 1,000-acre Town Moor, Jesmond Dene and Exhibition Park, with plenty of options when it comes to housing types too. There are a number of modern new developments on the outskirts of the city alongside plenty of charming Victorian and Edwardian properties with sought-after period features closer to the centre. Families also love the great schools of which West Jesmond Primary School, Christchurch CofE Primary School, Sacred Heart Catholic High School and independent Royal Grammar School are particularly popular.
As such, despite the overall dip in the number of house purchases in the UK that we have seen since the second half of 2022, demand in Newcastle and the wider Tyne and Wear region – much like the rest of the North East – remains high. By the summer of 2022 house prices in the North East had seen an increase of over 22% since the start of the pandemic and sold house prices in Tyne and Wear remain buoyant at 5% up on last year and 8% up on 2020. Newcastle itself paints a similar picture, with prices up just over 2% in the last year and 5% since 2020.
Indeed, the city has some of the fastest selling areas in the UK year on year when it comes to house sales, with sought after suburb Jesmond in the north east of the city topping the table. Homes in Jesmond have sold within 33 days on average in 2023, which is nearly twice as fast as sales in the area in 2022, which took place within 64 days. Coming in third on the list (beaten only by scenic Carterton in Oxfordshire, three miles from the Cotswolds) was another popular suburb of Newcastle: Fenham to the west of the city centre.
The “Industrial-chic” of popular Ouseburn to the east of the city also saw it voted one of the best places to live in 2023 by the Sunday Times, with nearby coastal resort Whitley Bay scoping the coveted top spot.
Given Newcastle’s popularity you would expect house prices to follow suit. However, the city continues to have some of the most affordable housing in the country, with an average house price of £208,168 over the last 12 months. This includes terraced properties which sold for an average price of £186,926, semi-detached properties which averaged £209,100 and flats which sold for an average of £123,951. This is significantly less than the average UK house price of £287,506, and the same is true of Fenham and Ouseburn, which come in at £160,946 and £181,019 respectively. Whilst you may need slightly deeper pockets for the likes of Jesmond (£481,730) and other sought-after areas like Gosforth (£312,423) and previous Sunday Times favourite Tynemouth (£362,705), you can still get a lot more for your money in Newcastle compared to the pricey South East of England.