Unemployment V Nottingham Property Market

Unemployment – The Secret Driver of the Nottingham Property Market?

If you have been reading my articles on the Nottingham property market recently, you will see that in the three years since the referendum of the ‘B’ word (that word is banned in our household), we have proved beyond doubt that it (whose name shall remain nameless) has had no effect on the Nottingham property market (or the UK as a whole).

So one might ask, what does affect the property market locally? Well many things on the demand side include wages, job security, interest rates, availability of mortgages, confidence in the economy, inflation, speculative demand … the list goes on. Yet as my blog readers will note, I like to delve deeper into the numbers and I have found an interesting correlation between unemployment and the number of properties sold (i.e. transactions).

Unemployment – The Secret Driver of the Nottingham Property Market?

If you have been reading my articles on the Nottingham property market recently, you will see that in the three years since the referendum of the ‘B’ word (that word is banned in our household), we have proved beyond doubt that it (whose name shall remain nameless) has had no effect on the Nottingham property market (or the UK as a whole).

So one might ask, what does affect the property market locally? Well many things on the demand side include wages, job security, interest rates, availability of mortgages, confidence in the economy, inflation, speculative demand … the list goes on. Yet as my blog readers will note, I like to delve deeper into the numbers and I have found an interesting correlation between unemployment and the number of properties sold (i.e. transactions).

Property transactions in Nottingham dropped by 56.45%, whilst unemployment in Nottingham rose by 54.79% during the 2007 to 2009 Global Financial Crash

Until recently, you can see there has clearly been a relationship between conditions in the Nottingham job market and the number of people who move home … interesting don’t you think?

Now I am not saying unemployment is the only factor influencing the Nottingham property – but it must be said there is a link.

As a country (and indeed here in Nottingham) over the last 40 years, we have seen a shift in the outlook over the purpose of housing and the development of the religion of following house prices (and I appreciate the irony of me writing these articles on Nottingham – feeding that habit!) Yet, when did owning a home turn from buying a roof over your head to an out and out investment vehicle? I do wish people would stop fretting about their intrinsic value being associated with their Nottingham home. Now of course, I am not dismissing the current levels of Nottingham house prices – we just have to take into consideration other metrics alongside them when judging the health of the property market locally.

One final thought, looking on a broader scale in the UK, those towns and cities whose property markets bounced back after the Global Financial Crash had high levels of employment and low unemployment whilst places with high unemployment and relatively low employment have, on the other hand, typically under performed.

So the next time you are considering a house move or buying a buy to let property in Nottingham … don’t make your judgement on house price growth alone.

Thank you for reading my article! Kind Regards Angela Barbaro-Robins 

Data Source from

Unemployment stats – ONS and Property Sales – Land Registry