Two out of three market towns have an average house price that is above their county average, the study by Lloyds Bank shows.
In Beaconsfield the average house price is £861,371 and the town also has the largest premium with houses trading at 181% or £554,917 above the county average.
Overall 10 of the most expensive market towns are in southern England. Lewes in Sussex at £382,219 and Cranbrook in Kent at £381,598 are the next most expensive market towns.
Bakewell is the most expensive market town outside southern England with an average property value of £322,519. Bakewell also has the next highest premium with prices 99% or £160,459 above the Derbyshire average, followed by Keswick in Cumbria at 95%.
Ferryhill in County Durham is the least expensive market town in England with an average house price of £84,018. Ferryhill and Immingham in Yorkshire and the Humber at £97,722 are the only towns in the survey where the average house price is below £100,000.
The research also shows that the average house price in market towns across England has risen by 50% from £153,776 in 2003 to £230,061 in 2013. This is equivalent to an average rise of £636 per month over the past decade.
‘The popularity of living in market towns is clearly evident from the significant premium that many of them command over their neighbouring towns. Indeed, recent government research concludes that cities and smaller towns should try and replicate the community spirit, thriving high streets and social networks often seen in market towns,’ said Marc Page, mortgages director at Lloyds Bank.
‘Market towns offer an excellent quality of life, with high levels of health and low crime and unemployment; they also tend to have higher levels of retired people and young couples without children. Market towns are seen as desirable places to live, small enough for people to feel included but large enough to remain private,’ he explained.
The research found that more than a quarter of the market towns have seen house prices grow by more than 50% since 2003.
Eight of the 10 market towns recording the largest price increases are in northern England with five in the North East. The biggest increase was in Saltburn on the north east coast where the average price rose by 94% from £68,899 to £133,889. Saltburn is followed by Berwick upon Tweed in Northumberland at 85%, Seahouses in Northumberland at 84% and Ferryhill at 77%.
Average house prices have risen in seven out of 10 market towns since the bottom of the housing market in 2009. Contrary to the decade as whole, it has been market towns in the south that have performed best in the past few years.
Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire recorded the largest price growth in the past four years at 45%, followed by Didcot in Oxfordshire at 27% and Horsham in Sussex at 25%. The average price growth for all market towns in the survey was 8%.
