Halloween: Why living on Elm Street is a property price nightmare for homeowners

Living on Elm Street will cut as much as 38 per cent of a property’s value.

A Nightmare on Elm Street - 2010 Jack Earle Haley (Rex Features)

Freddy Krueger haunted teenagers’ nightmares throughout the eighties in the film ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’, but it seems that his legacy still lives on in house prices for homeowners on streets of the same name, whose houses are worth less than others in the area.

An analysis by online estate agents HouseSimple.com found that living on Elm Street will cut as much as 38 per cent of a property’s value.

People living in the village of Seaton Burn in Newcastle seem to be particularly sensitive to Elm Street’s curse as the average property price on their street is 56.9 lower than the average for the postcode area. That’s a price difference of more than £120,000.

Freddy Krueger From 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' (Getty Images)

“It sounds like a horror movie sequel, but for hundreds of homeowners, the curse of Elm Street is a grim reality. Our figures reveal that living on this infamous street does affect the value of your home,” said Alex Gosling, CEO of online estate agents HouseSimple.com.

Elm Street in Stockport shows the smallest differential, but even here an Elm Street home is estimated to be worth £37,410 under the average for the area.

The research look at 70 Elm Streets across the UK and chose a sample of 20 Elm Streets from different areas, all of them were spookily significantly lower than the average house price in the local area.

“We are a superstitious nation, so perhaps lower house prices are the only way to tempt people into braving the supernatural and buying here!” Mr Gosling said.