What's football got to do with the price of property?

Quite a lot really!

1. football winners usually signify a local boom
2. the winners in the football boom were the players - just like today it is the employees who've seen the hikes in pay - not the paymasters who've seen a dive in profits

And remember it only takes a few millionaire salaries in a small town or district to shift property prices...

And when a team gets promoted, everyone gets a great big pay rise and new 'highly paid' players come and join the club.

So, over the past few years we've seen the likes of

** Liverpool - recover form and become a top flight team (although they are struggling a bit at the moment)

** Everton - move into the top half of the premiership

- that makes two clubs from Merseyside - one of the major property hot spots of the past two years.

** Newcastle - have re-established themselves as a top team after many years.

- in fact - the booming North East boasts three Premiership teams - Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Sunderland (just) and again, is hot to one of the hottest property markets in the UK.

** Birmingham City - promoted last year, are hanging in there!

** West Brom - also promoted last year make up three teams from Birmingham (including Aston Villa). The midlands have also delivered substantial property growth recently.

** Man City - after years in the first division, they are now mid table and sure of another year of premiership football.

Isn't it funny, how the success of these teams represent the boom property areas of the UK? ie Birmingham/ Midlands, the North East and the North West!

So, when looking for next Property Hot Spot, what can football tell us? Well, looking at the Nationwide First Division, the top 7 clubs are:

1. Portsmouth
2. Leicester City
3. Reading
4. Sheff Utd
5. Nottingham
6. Wolves - Wolverhampton
7. Rotherham - near Sheffield

So, using football league tables as a guide, this could this tell you that these are the next boom towns?

Some recent local comments from these areas include;

Portsmouth - Hampshire "Unexpectedly busy month..."

Leicester "Demand surprisingly buoyant..."

Nottingham "Buoyant below £200,000"

Wolverhampton - West Midlands "Good level of sales. Busier now than 12 months ago... ..shortage of properties in all price ranges, values will rise over the next 3 months"

 

* Top 3 teams in the second division

1. Wigan Athletic
2. Crewe
3. Cardiff city

Followers of Amer Siddiq's North West Property Wire (www.PropertyWire.co.uk) will recognise the mention of Wigan!

* Top 3 teams in the third division

1. Hartlepool
2. Rushden
3. Bournemouth

Note: bottom of this league is Exeter City!

* Top 4 teams in the Non League

1. Yeovil
2. Chester
3. Halifax Town
4. Doncaster

Take your pick - but which ever of these gets promoted you can expect to see a hike in local property prices.

In fact, the link between Property Hot Spots and Football go beyond just the UK; Valencia in Spain (playing Arsenal in next weeks Champions League decider) represent the fasting growing city in Spain and a perfect example of a property hot spot.

So, now when you watch you local football team, you'll also know that goals make property hot spots.

by Neil Lewis,
Editor of www.Property-Secrets-PRO.co.uk newsletter and private website for property investors.

More information about Property Secrets is available from: www.PropertySecrets.co.uk

Copyright Property Secrets 2003