According to research by FindAProperty.com, 77% of buyers believe that the opening of new healthcare facilities will have a positive effect on local property prices.

The survey asked buyers about the pros and cons of having a hospital open in their area. Almost half (48%) felt that a new hospital would lead to increased traffic and 29% said that they would be concerned about the construction effects while the hospital was being built. When asked whether they would move to be close to a good hospital, 38% said that they would. The research also found that half of buyers believed that the closure of a local hospital would have a negative effect on property prices.

The introduction of polyclinics, one stop shops for healthcare, has been high on the healthcare agenda over the last year and PIN asked Michael O’Flynn, content editor for FindAProperty.com, whether its introduction would also have an affect on house prices: “Our research shows that people place considerable value on medical services and believe that they boost local house prices so we can probably conclude that the opening of a polyclinic would have a similar impact. That said, there is some debate over how polyclinics would work, will they be additional to existing services or will they replace GPs’ surgeries?
“If the latter happens, then it is reasonable to assume that property values might potentially increase. If polyclinics are additional to existing services the effect on house prices would probably be less pronounced because a centralising process would be less dramatic.”