Monday 15 October 2007

House Prices Finally Flatline

House prices around Britain finally appear to have plateaued as inflation fell from 12.4% to 11.4% this month.

As fewer home buyers have been taking out mortgages recently, the knock on effect appears to have been positive for house hunters.

However, the average house price around England is still approximatly £220 000 putting first time buyers under stress and pressure.

Closer to home, Falmouth along with Penzance, were the two sea side towns to see the sharpest increase in house prices a 2005 survey revealed, after a 300% rise in price since 1995.

Many students at University College Falmouth seem to have noted the huge price tags. Phil Myatt, originally from Stoke, says: "There is a huge price difference compared to Stoke; around £150 000. However [Falmouth] is such a nice place that the prices wouldn't deter me from buying down here".

Falmouth is still far more 'affordable' than Britain's most expensive sea side town of Sandbanks in Dorset. Home to footballers and millionaires alike, the average home would set you back a tidy £530 000: over double the national average.

1 comment:

Anne said...

Structure: A short punchy intro but the news here is what is happening in Falmouth and to some extent the rest of Cornwall, so your story is buried in paragraph four.

Audience: You do not relate the story to your audience until the middle of the story. The words Falmouth or students should be somewhere in your intro.

Avoid opinion/comment: Why 'finally appeared to have’? Avoid comment in news. Stick to the facts of the story.

Quotes/research: You do not source your story. Who says that house prices have reached a plateau? Where did your figures come from? The 2005 survey is rather out of date now. You need at least two original quotes.

Accuracy/spelling: Keep a close check on your spelling – there are a number of errors here. Plateaued is not in the dictionary.