BIRMINGHAM PROPERTY PRICES
What Landlords and Property Investors need to know.
Kate Faulkner
OBE
Landlords and property investors need to know about the Birmingham Property Prices
The property headlines might suggest prices are falling but are they really? For landlords and investors making real-time decisions on buying, selling, or letting, many of these broad-brush statistics are, at best, unhelpful and, at worst, misleading
Let’s unpack what’s really happening to property prices in Birmingham, Coventry, Sandwell, and the wider West Midlands using accurate, local data from trusted sources
There is so much daily reporting about what’s happening to property prices and rents, but for those who are actually buying and selling, letting property, or investing, most of the statistics highlighted don’t accurately inform people of what’s really happening and can actually misinform
For example, the April 2025 Nationwide Index reported that the ‘average’ property price was 3.4% higher this year than last year, but month-on-month prices had fallen from £271,316 to £270,752. The headlines mostly reported ‘prices have fallen’, which although correct month-on-month is totally inaccurate year-on-year
Falling house prices also do not accurately reflect what’s happening in many areas and property types across the UK. The Nationwide Index, although a good report, only reflects the decline in property prices for those bought with a mortgage it doesn’t measure the decline in the 30% (on average) of properties bought with cash.
Secondly, any averages are just that averages So, reporting an average for the UK, when it’s made up of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, includes London, a top international city, and ranges from flats to detached homes and from rural farms to city penthouse apartments, will never truly reflect what’s happening and, in fact, can be incredibly misleading to buyers, sellers, and investors. This is because prices don’t move up and down in line with each other – they are very individual to an individual property on an individual street.
Summary of property prices
What is a better measure of what’s happening to the current market is less about prices and more about what’s happening to the supply of properties for sale and the number of buyers. Based on this measure, we are seeing that activity has slowed slightly in April due to huge volumes of homes sold prior to the temporary Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) reductions ending in March
However, the main reason why price growth is softening is that we are seeing a higher level of sellers coming to the market than we are buyers.
Buyers during April 25 were a little bit more cautious due to the ‘scary’ news being reported on the impact of the Trump’s tariffs and it’s impact on the UK and the Global Economy But it is also because we need bank Base Rates to fall to 4% to return to ‘normal’ demand levels and currently they are 4 5%
In the meantime, more and more sellers are putting their property onto the market as you can see from the graph below
Source:https://wwwzooplacouk/discover/property-news/house-price-index/
So buyers can and are taking their time as in many areas there is a greater choice of properties and they aren’t competing with as many other buyers as they will have done in the past Because more properties are for sale, sensible sellers aren’t asking for ‘top dollar’ for their homes so they can sell and move on with their lives
The reason why it’s so important to understand this is because typically, the more properties for sale, the more buyers will come back to the market, especially if, as forecast, the result of the economic fears is that Bank Base Rates will fall, reducing mortgages hopefully down quicker than expected, this will help to boost buyers and in the next few months this should mean buyer demand versus supply matches better, so property price growth is likely to stabilise
As a result, anyone concluding from the headlines that property prices might be falling and decide to hold off might actually be missing out at buying at a great time from a market perspective!
Top Three Birmingham property price statistics you need to know!
To really understand whether now is a good time to buy and sell or invest, there are some key trends and figures you need to know, and it’s also incredibly important to make sure the statistics you use are local to your area, rather than a UK or even regional average
#1 What’s happening to prices in Birmingham, Coventry and Sandwell
The table below shows how property prices have performed according to the government Land Registry data which records prices when they have sold. This means it relates to what happened to property prices towards the end of 2024, rather than what’s happening now
However, it’s useful to see that from a buyers and investors perspective property prices in the West Midlands, Birmingham City, Coventry and Sandwell (essentially the ‘Black Country’ including towns such as West Bromwich and Oldbury) versus England and UK are lower, making owning a home more accessible and potentially securing a higher yielding property if buying to let.
Source:LandRegistry/Propertychecklists.co.uk
The chart above presents the trends in property price growth over time. When compared to inflation statistics, we gain valuable insight. For context:
● Inflation since 2000: 84% total (Averaging 2 9% annually)
● Inflation since 2005: 71%, (Averaging 2.9% annually)
● Inflation since 2007: 64%, reflecting a similar annual average
This data shows us that if you bought and have owned property from 2000 or before, you would have seen double the returns on your property investment or purchase versus average inflation of round 3%.
Since 2005, property price inflation hasn’t been as high, so property’s haven’t ‘doubled in value every 10 years’ as some people still quote today! They have however just kept up to speed with average annual inflation of 3% with prices rising across a range of increases from 2 9% to 3 3% Although performing slightly less, the West Midlands overall hasn’t managed to keep up though
After 2005, prices fell, on average by 20%, so the data shows for those that bought at the market peak around 2007 when the credit crunch hit, many areas, on average haven’t seen prices rise in line with inflation, although Birmingham, Coventry and Sandwell have performed slightly better than the ‘average’ for England and the UK
And for those that bought in 2007, prior to the Credit Crunch when properties fell by 20%, properties, on average, haven’t kept up with general inflation When you add the costs to buy into property as an investment and sell, plus maintenance and taxes to pay for, those properties that have been held with 100% cash are likely to have lost money
The key takeway from this data is to show how important it is for investors in particular to assess whether existing properties are actually delivering a better return than inflation and to understand that owning a property with 100% cash can seriously reduce your returns as having a mortgage helps to mitigate the impact of inflation
Key Takeaways for Birmingham and West Midlands Property Investors
To make more informed decisions about keeping or investing in property in 2025 and beyond, you must:
1 Use localised data. National trends rarely reflect local markets like Birmingham or Coventry accurately
2. Benchmark against inflation. Real growth matters more than nominal price rises.
3 Understand supply and demand. With higher stock levels and cautious buyers, this is a favourable time to invest especially before interest rates fall and competition intensifies