It is excellent news for Taunton that the UK’s biggest hotspots for house prices in 2021 has been announced today.
According to new analysis, average house prices rose by 21% in Somerset this year. The town is well-known for horse racing, cider and cricket.
Average property prices in the county town, which is surrounded attractive countryside including the Quantock Hills, rose by £56,546 to £315,759, according to Halifax.
It beat the Nottinghamshire market town of Newark (up 20 per cent), where average property prices rose by £46,732 to £280,934, and Rochdale (up 18.5 per cent), Greater Manchester, which a rise of £32,123 to £206,098.
The Wiltshire town of Chippenham, up 18.1 per cent to £381,181, and Braintree, Essex, up 18 per cent to £381,181, rounded off the top five.
However, while this was good news to commuters and markets in these areas it wasn’t great news for London.
Halifax revealed that three of the Capital’s boroughs were in the Top Five Places where Average Property Prices had Declined in 2021.
According to the bank, average property prices in the wealthy borough of Westminster, home to some of the country’s top earners, dropped by 6.9 per cent this year – an average loss in value of around £57,809.
Hammersmith and Fulham, down 3.3 per cent to £716,541, and the trendy borough of Islington, down 1.6 per cent to £716,554, also featured in the bottom five.
They featured alongside Scotland’s Airdrie (down 3.8 per cent), where average property prices fell by around £6,000, and Coatbridge (down 2.3 per cent), where there was an average drop of around £3,435.
Meanwhile, in terms of regions, Wales (up 14 per cent) topped the pile, with average property prices rising by around £28,454, while London (down 0.6 per cent) was at the bottom, with an average of £3,588 being knocked off the prices of properties in the capital this year.
Experts claim that these figures reflect the shift from city demand to suburbs and farther afield.
According to new research, average house prices rose more than 5 percent in Somerset this year. The town is known for horse racing, cider and cricket.
Taunton beat the Nottinghamshire market town of Newark (pictured: Newark castle) (up 20 per cent), where average property prices rose by £46,732 to £280,934, and Rochdale (up 18.5 per cent), Greater Manchester, which a rise of £32,123 to £206,098.
According to Halifax, average property prices in the wealthy borough of Westminster (pictured), home to some of the country’s top earners, dropped by 6.9 per cent this year – an average loss in value of around £57,809
Prices in Hammersmith and Fulham (pictured: Hammersmith Bridge), down 3.3 per cent to £716,541, and the trendy borough of Islington, down 1.6 per cent to £716,554, also featured in the bottom five.
Russell Galley is the managing director of Halifax. He said that Taunton was this year’s winner for the best house prices. With its great quality of life, and excellent transport links to other major cities in the South West, Taunton has much to offer home-buyers.
Taunton was one of many areas to see the highest house prices increase in recent years. These neighborhoods have a greater combination of affordability and more space than the surrounding cities.
“Places such as Hamilton, Newark and Bradford – which offer a wide range of property types, settings, and locations – are all significantly more valuable than their metropolitan counterparts.
Galley said that this is most evident in London. Although it is not often that London boroughs are included in the highest areas with the fastest house prices growth, this will be the case for 2021.
“This shift is reminiscent of what we have observed from home-buyers in the past year, namely less attention on major cities and increased demand in suburbs.
The list was dominated by towns like Chippenham and Taunton in the South West, but there were also areas in the Midlands or the North West that saw an increase in property prices.
The industrial town of Widnes, in Cheshire, saw an increase of 17.8 per cent, with average property prices rising by £33,628 to £222,876 this year.
Bolton, in Greater Manchester, also known for its industrial roots, saw a large property price rise of 16.9 per cent, with average prices rising by £30,818.
The top 20 also includes Swansea (up 14.8%) and Devon’s Newton Abbot. Maidstone, up 15.5 per cent, in Wales; Kent (up 14.8%), in Kent
Surprise cold spots meanwhile saw some usually desirable locations fall well below the average UK property price rise of 6.2 per cent.
These include upmarket Oxford (up by 1.2 per cent), which saw average property prices rise by just £5,808 this year, and its rival university city of Cambridge (up 1.8 per cent), where average property prices increased by £8,600.
Pictured: One three bedroom detached property in Taunton is currently on the market at £312,000
Another quaint terraced home in Taunton (pictured) is also currently on the market at offers over £300,000
This four bedroom detached property in Newark, Nottinghamshire (pictured), is currently on the market for £280,000
This two bedroom terraced property in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, is currently on the market for £200,000
Commuter areas such as Croydon (up 1.5 per cent), London, saw average property prices rise by £6,502 to £436,441 this year, as did nearby Sutton (up 4.2 per cent) which saw a rise of £19,529 to £481,265.
The regional data also showed this, with Wales leading the pack (up 14%). Average property prices rose by £28,454 to £231,134.
Yorkshire and Humberside (up 10.3 per cent) finished second, with average prices rising by around £21,000, followed by the East Midlands (10.1 per cent), where there was a rise of £24,375.
Greater London (down 0.6 per cent) was the only region to see a decline, with average property prices falling by £3,588 to £558,272 in 2021.
The South East saw a 2.9% increase in property values, while the North experienced a 5.9% rise.
It comes as figures from Savills showed that the cost of prime housing outside London had surged at the strongest pace for a decade this year – driven by as wealthy homeowners looking for more space during the working from home revolution.
The Cotswolds saw the fastest growth, with country houses worth more than £2million piling on nearly a quarter (23.4 per cent) to their value, with demand coming from local homeowners looking to upsize, those relocating and aspiring second home owners.
Castle Combe, a village in the Cotswolds that saw the largest price rises this year for prime property prices, was the most affected
Savills reported that prime coast markets like Cornwall and Devon saw an average price rise of 15.6 percentage in the past year. In contrast to central London, which saw growth of only 2 percent, the rate in suburbs was much higher, at 13.6 %.
In the broadest sense, prime markets are those homes that make up between 5-10% of total home values. These properties tend to be the most sought-after and expensive ones in any given area. You can find them in both coastal and country properties.
Prices in prime real estate markets located outside of the capital increased by 9.3%, the largest annual increase since 2010. This was because buyers sought more space and changed their lifestyles as a result.
These properties, which include those situated near the coast in beautiful Cotswolds country and private estates that can be commutable to the city, were the best performers.
‘In these markets, the rarity factors – whether it’s a rarely available type of property, the most sought after locations, or simply the best view – have combined with high levels of buyer demand and wealth to create pockets of extremely strong market conditions,’ said Frances Clacy of Savills.
“New buyers numbers in the last month have been 1.5 times more than they were during the pre-pandemic years. It suggests these trends could continue through the first part of next year.