Wednesday January 16 | 2019
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Times OF TUNBRIDGE WELLS
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London influx keeps house market buoyant DESPITE more than £13,000 being wiped off the value of Tunbridge Wells’ property in the last quarter of 2018, the average asking price for a home in the borough is still over £200k above the national average of £297.527. House prices in the area have fallen 2.6 per cent since October 2018, standing at £493,991 at the beginning of January, according to property website Zoopla, and are down 0.60 per cent across the year. While average house prices vary wildly depending on individual vendors, the figures are part of a national trend, but the good news is that the market in Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge remains buoyant.
Zero growth According to Rightmove, the end of last year saw the biggest drop in house prices in six years, with 3.2 per cent wiped off the cost of an average property in the UK, which fell by nearly £10,000. The picture is mirrored across the South East, with the cost of a house dipping 2.1 per cent during the same period. London has been the worst hit, recording two consecutive monthly falls in asking prices at the end of 2018, dragging down national prices and leading to predictions of zero growth across the country for 2019. Miles Shipside, Rightmove director and housing market analyst, said that while the festive period normally slows down growth, there was more to it than that.
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Boost to town’s tourism brings £278million to local economy by Richard Williams NEARLY five million people visit Tunbridge Wells each year, bringing more than a quarter of a billion pounds to the local economy, the latest tourism figures reveal. The numbers show 4.7 million trips were made to the royal town in a 12 month period, and the total value to the local economy of tourism has risen to £278 million a year. Individuals visiting the town are each spending on average £60 a day in Tunbridge Wells, helping boost jobs supported by tourism, which have increased with 5,235 workers now dependent on
visitors to the town for their living. The tourist industry accounts for 8 per cent of total employment in the borough, an increase of 6.6 per cent on the previous year.
‘The results of the research make very positive reading’ Based on independent research commissioned by Visit Kent, the latest figures cover the year 2017 and show a ‘deep dive’ into data collected about visits to Tunbridge Wells, which were up by 5.7 per cent on the previous year,
an increase of over a quarter of a million. The figures were derived using the Cambridge Economic Impact Model, an industry respected tool for measuring the economic impact of tourism in a given area. Councillor Jane March for Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, and the Culture, Leisure & Tourism portfolio holder, said: “The results of the research make very positive reading for Tunbridge Wells. Tourism is very important to our local economy and I hope that we will see this upward trend continue. “The Council works hard to support the local tourism businesses through the
marketing and promotion it carries out. We work with partners across West Kent to ensure that visitors know what a great and welcoming destination this is.” Across the rest of the county, tourism figures also increased, with Kent welcoming 65 million visitors in 2017, adding £3.8 billion to the local economy and supporting more than 77,000 jobs. Kent remains the third most visited destination outside of London for foreign visitors and since 2006, the value of the county’s tourism industry has risen by 33%.
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