City families head to towns
Property hotspots are cropping up in the West Midlands as people flee the smoke and look for a better life.
Thousands of families are ditching city life for a new start in the suburbs or villages on the west +of the urban area.
The trend is shown in a report released today which says parts of the region are on the up.
And while Birmingham was named specifically as a growth area, in research by savings firm ING direct and the Future Foundations think tank, the Black Country and the shire counties are highlighted as rising stars.
The report claims that traffic wardens, packed trains and burglar alarms are sure signs that an area is on the up and will see big rises in house prices.
Other measures suggesting an area's increasing prosperity included an improvement in school exam results, neighbourhood watch schemes, more skips, scaffolding and ethnic cuisine.
The research, based on interviews with 200 estate agents, suggested that these localities would see house price rises of 13 per cent above the national average.
ING Direct chief executive Lindsay Sinclair said: "Everyone wants to know if the area they live in or are planning to move to is on the up, in order to find out whether their home is a good investment.
"Traffic wardens and more crowded public transport are not things you would normally welcome, but it appears that such annoyances do come with a silver lining."
Nick Berriman, partner at Berriman Eaton in Tettenhall, said that locally there was record demand for properties in Wightwick and Tettenhall, while the villages of Beckbury and Brewood, and areas in and around Shifnal, were becoming popular.
"There has certainly been a surge in demand in certain areas, and improving transport links to Birmingham mean that people are actually moving out of the city to places where they can get better value for money.
"We are seeing higher demand for country properties because, given the much improved road and rail links, moving out to somewhere just 20 or 30 minutes travelling time away provides great value. Many of those people are moving out from the traditional postcodes of Solihull, Sutton Coldfield and Edgbaston."
By Business Editor Jim Walsh
