Our Chairman, Nick Leeming, provides an overview of our latest research report, which shows how the most iconic festival towns and villages are exceeding their wider areas when it comes to property price growth.
The UKs love of festivals has never been greater. From musical to literary, they draw in huge crowds from across the country and are often an opportune time for would-be sellers to capitalise on the associated hype.
Our latest research, which analysed exclusive
Rightmove asking price data, shows that festival locations are thriving when it comes to property price growth compared to their wider areas over the past seven years. Pilton in Somerset, home of the
Glastonbury festival (and an additional 200,000 people at the weekend) has seen 24% house price growth since 2010 equivalent to 101,510.
Meanwhile the average house price in the county of Somerset as a whole increased by just over 60,000. Henley, host town of the namesake
Henley Festival, has seen house prices increase by 45% over the last seven years, outperforming Oxfordshire as a whole quite significantly, which has seen growth of 31%.
Other star locations include Glyndebourne, also in Somerset, which hosts the
Festival Opera, has seen incredible growth (52%) over seven years, far exceeding growth across Somerset as a whole, and Hay-On-Wye, home of the
Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts, which experienced property price growth of 36% since 2010, the equivalent of 102,080.
The inward investment festival-goers bring to an area contributes to improved infrastructure and amenities, which, along with other factors, all help add to the value of local homes. With festivals drawing people to different parts of the country many homeowners can also reap further benefits by renting out their homes during the event. It is a great way of drawing in extra income through holiday letting and can attract a significant premium over these festival weekends. We would say that is a win-win situation, wouldnt you?
Table 1: House price growth in festival locations compared to their surrounds. Source: Jackson-Stops & Staff + Rightmove NB: figures in the body of the text on page 1 and 2 are rounded to the nearest 10 for ease (but not in the table) *As compared to the county / unitary authority they reside in.
