Brexit housing fears stay in London as regions catch up

Bloomberg

The Brexit-inspired decline in London’s property values has yet to cause any serious ripples in other areas of the UK.
While price-growth and activity may be slowing amid the uncertainty, almost every other major urban area in the country is still experiencing a rising market, according to Acadata. It’s a national divide that’s all too apparent to real estate agents in northern England who aren’t too worried about the UK’s departure from European Union.
“It’s a different world from London in the north,” says Jonathan Morgan, sitting in the Leeds office where his property management company Morgans has operated for more than two decades. Reeling off a list from 15 percent interest rates to the global financial crash, he smiles calmly. “It will be fine because we’ll make it so. We’ve faced crises before.”
Behind him the noise of construction creeps through the windows from workers refurbishing the 19th-century cast-iron Leeds Bridge, originally built when the city — 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of the capital — was rapidly expanding and flush with the wealth of the Industrial Revolution.
Now, it’s looking forward to a more modest investment surge — the government is moving 6,000 civil servants to the city and broadcaster Channel 4 is relocating its headquarters there, while a high speed rail project will bolster transport links.
While such plans are likely boosting interest in Leeds itself, the property market is humming along across large swathes of the country. Land registry data shows annual price growth of 2.9 percent for Yorkshire and Humber in January, and increases of 4.4 percent in the East Midlands and 3.4 percent in the northwest.