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Wednesday, 3rd January 2007

Nelson has cheapest homes in Britain

NELSON: Affordable
NELSON: Affordable
THE Lancashire town of Nelson is the most affordable place to live in Britain, according to figures from Halifax Bank.

The ranks of terraced houses that make up most of the town's housing stock mean it is one of the few places in the country where first time buyers can still get a foot on the property ladder.

The average price paid nationally by a first time buyer is £150,000, but in Nelson you can still get a two bedroom terraced home for £50,000.

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Nigel Darcy, an agent in the town for 20 years, said: "Nelson has long been one of the cheapest places to buy a house, although I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not.

"Three years ago you could buy a terraced house here for £10,000 and we had a flood of investors from the south who released equity from their homes and bought one or two up here to rent out.

Demand

"This demand pushed up values and a similar property today will cost £50,000. The small investors have gone but the larger property companies buying on behalf of a fund or consortium are still active here as they have been priced out of many other areas.

"And first time buyers are much pickier nowadays! Whereas in the past they may have been happy to start out small they are now demanding much more and are likely to look at houses at £80,000 to £90,000 rather than the bottom end stuff."

Nelson is part of the ambitious East Lancashire Elevate initiative which has already seen the area of Whitefield transformed with properties sandblasted and restored with Georgian sash windows. An area off Scotland Road is next to be tackled and 141 properties will be demolished to make way for new build, with the remainder being improved and restored.

Halifax base their table on the amount a first time buyer in an area can afford to borrow, based on four times the average salary compared to the average house price in each town.

Seventh in the list is Hyde in Tameside, but there are warnings from the Lombard Research Group, that homes are at their most over-valued since the 1990s and that if 2007 sees another double digit rise in prices it could lead to a market collapse in 2008.