A study by the estate agent comparison site, GetAgent, has analysed how a move to city status could bring about a substantial boost to Southend-on-Sea’s housing market.

In honour of the late Southend West MP, Sir David Amess, the Queen has officially granted city status to Southend-on-Sea, an Essex resort town with a population of around 190,000. During his political career, Amess lobbied for his beloved town to be awarded the upgrade.

The new city status opens up brand new opportunities for potential economic growth for Southend and the surrounding region, from business and entertainment to education and the arts, and GetAgent’s research shows it could also help to boost house prices.

GetAgent’s study

GetAgent researched house price growth across six cities in England and Wales to have already gained city status in the 21st century and how they changed over the year following this change of status.

According to GetAgent’s study, on average, house price growth across newly designated cities rose by 14.2% over the following year versus just 11.6% across England and Wales as a whole.

Millennium competition

In 2000, national millennium celebrations included several towns in England and Wales being awarded city status.

One of the towns was Brighton & Hove. In 2000, the average house price in Brighton was £107,029, but 12 months after receiving city status, it had gone up by 19.3% to £127,655. During that same year, the national average house price had risen by just 11.6%. 

Wolverhampton also became a city in 2000. One year later, prices jumped up by 9%; slightly below average, but still an improvement for the West Midlands market.

Golden Jubilee

To commemorate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002, Newport in Wales and Preston in England’s North West were both granted city status. One year later, prices surged up to 28.5% in Newport and up 26.1% in Preston, both outperforming the national growth during the same year which sat at 20.9%.

Diamond Jubilee

However, city status doesn’t always guarantee above-average house price growth.

For the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012, Chelmsford in the East and St. Asaph in Wales were granted city status. Chelmsford saw immediate annual growth of 2.3% while St. Asaph saw prices decline by -0.8%, with both trailing the national average of 2.8%.

Predictions for Southend

What could city status mean for Southend? Currently, the average house price in Southend is £322,656. If the local property market follows the wider trend seen across previous locations to gain city status, the average increase of 14.2%, could see property prices surge as high as £368,336 over the next year.