Latest Sub-regional Economic Indicators - May 2010

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   Gross Disposable Household Income (GDHI) 

• GDHI in South West England (SWE) was 73.5 million in 2008, 8.4% of UK’s income.

• When measured per head the SW average was £14,680, lower than the UK’s average of £14,889. There are sub-regional and local variations however, ranging from £15,924 (highest) for Gloucestershire to £12,119 (lowest) for Plymouth.

• Annual nominal growth in GDHI per head between 2007 and 2008 was 3.7% for SWE and 3.9% for the UK.  Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly had the highest growth amongst the SW sub-regions (4.3%).

      Labour Market

• In the year up to Q3 2009, the employment rate was 76.6% in SWE and 72.8% in the UK. Within the region North Somerset had the highest rate (80.1%) and Torbay had the lowest rate at 72.3

• Over the same period unemployment in the region was highest in Swindon (8.3%) and lowest in South Gloucestershire. The SW average rate at 5.9% was lower than the UK’s average of 7.3%.

• In April 2010 the SW claimant count rate (2.9%) was lower than the UK’s 4.1%. The highest rates in region were in Torbay (4.4%), Swindon (4.1%) and Bristol (3.8%). 

     House prices

•  In the last quarter of 2009, the average house price in the SW was £214,442, lower than the average price in England of £222,444. This is a drop in prices over the previous quarter of 1.2% and 1.8% respectively.

•  When comparing prices to the same quarter of the previous year, the average house price rose in England by 7.3% compared to 1.7% increase for our region. The highest rise was in South Gloucestershire (7.4%) and the highest drop was in Dorset (5.2%).