Which are the 3 best areas for First Time Buyers in St Helens?
Buying your first home can be a very stressful experience and taking that first step onto the property ladder can be overwhelming. The good news is that least two of those stresses (affordability and location), can be dealt with by considering a property in St Helens. Firstly, affordability: Currently in St Helens there are over 400 two and three bedroom properties for sale at prices ranging from £80,000 to £140,000. The average wage in nearby Manchester is just under £27,000 (1) and with banks and building societies offering mortgage multipliers of up to a generous 5.5 times your annual income (2) that puts even sizeable properties in St Helens well within the financial range of first time buyers. Another benefit of this affordability is that you’d be on the property ladder a whole seven years sooner than a comparable first time buyer in the South East (3).
Houses are affordable, but what about location? To answer the question, we’ve chosen three property hotspots in St Helens and what they have to offer:
(1) Sutton (WA9)
An article published by the International Federation for Business (4) predicts that Liverpool and Manchester are set to experience a higher rate of employment and growth than the likes of Paris and Tokyo over the next five years. St Helens is ideally situated between these two future economic powerhouses and so offers an ideal base from which to commute to that city job. In particular the ward of Sutton, close to the leafy expanses of Sherdley Park and a golf course, has two railways stations, Lea Green and St Helens Junction, both of which have fast and regular trains to both Liverpool and Manchester (5, 6). If you’d rather drive then that’s no problem either. Sutton also lays a little way from the St Helen’s Linkway, the start of a road network that will take you quickly onto the main transport routes of the M6, M57 and M62. In this area one bedroom flats sell for upwards of £30,000, terraced houses from around £55,000 and semi-detached houses are priced upwards from £80,000 (7). It offers, then, plenty of options for every budget.
(2) West Park (WA10)
Situated right next to the Grange Park Golf Course and a mere 8 minute drive from the scenic Eccleston Mere, West Park is also conveniently located close to the town centre, As well as the usual array of big name shops there is a new weekly market offering an exciting range of fresh produce. This market is but one step on the road to a regeneration project for St Helens town centre (9) which will likely see a number of new businesses and jobs appear right at the heart of the town. West Park has an abundance of three bedroom, semi-detached properties for sale at a very reasonable price of around £100,000 (10) making it an ideal buying location for couples planning families.
(3) Haydock (WA11)
Haydock is a village located halfway between Liverpool and Manchester and is at the junction of the M6 and A580 East Lancs Road, ideal then for the first time buyer who intends to commute to work via car. Most famously, of course, it is home to the racecourse which brings in brisk business to the area, ideal if you’re looking to set up shop in the vicinity. As befits a former mining area a lot of the housing is terraced and these properties can be bought for as little as £45,000 for a two bedroomed property (11). Even three bedroomed semi-detached houses sell are priced in the region of £125,000, well within budget for a first time buyer.
All in all, St Helens is well situated for a quick and trouble free commute to the regenerated, reinvigorated cities of Liverpool and Manchester. More than that, it also has its own regeneration strategies in place meaning that it too offers opportunity and promise and all at a bargain price.
(1) http://buff.ly/2e3Ivw3
(2)http://buff.ly/2ewD1cQ
(3)http://buff.ly/2eaH0Af
(4)http://buff.ly/2e3HAMe
(5) http://buff.ly/2e94wuM
(6)http://buff.ly/2e3GiRm
(7)http://buff.ly/2e3HqVc
(8)http://buff.ly/2e3G7FE
(9)http://buff.ly/2ewyMOq
(10)http://buff.ly/2eaIpXe
(11)http://buff.ly/2e94YsO
