Since 2003, Porthmadog in Wales was the seaside town that recorded the biggest rise with the average house price increasing by 134% from £69,479 to £162,638 in 2013. The town, which is rich in maritime history, sits adjacent to the Snowdonia National Park and the Glaslyn estuary.
Seaham and Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, both in the North East saw the next largest rises at 128% and 120% respectively and now stand at £104,840 and £81,442. Contrary to the recent performance of the wider housing market, eight of the 10 seaside towns experiencing the biggest house price gains since 2003 are outside southern England.
The other two top performers Mawes at £369,224 and Perranporth at £262,113 are in the South West. The others had average prices that were well below £100,000 in 2003, with prices rising sharply from a relatively low base over the decade.
Some 14 seaside towns, all in southern England, have an average house price above £300,000. The most expensive seaside towns outside southern England are the Mumbles in south Wales at £266,891, Grange over Sands in Cumbria at £220,080, Tenby in Wales at £205,342 and Alnmouth in Northumberland at £203,846.
However, despite the outperformance by northern seaside towns generally over the past decade, all 10 of the most expensive seaside towns in England and Wales are on the south coast with eight in the South West.
Salcombe in Devon at £570,378, which sits in the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and Sandbanks in Dorset at £552,242 have the highest average prices with both also featuring amongst the most expensive areas of any description in the country with both retaining their top positions from the 2012 rankings.
Contrary to the north's outperformance over the decade as whole, southern seaside towns have fared better during the past five years. All top ten performers since 2008 are in southern England led by Aldeburgh in Suffolk, home of the internationally renowned Aldeburgh Festival of arts, which has recorded a 17% increase.
The majority of seaside towns in Wales, 63%, East Anglia, 60%, and the South West, 57%, have an average price that is higher than the average for their county. In contrast, there are no seaside towns in Yorkshire and the Humber and the East Midlands with an average price above their county's average.
Not all seaside towns boast high average prices. Three towns have an average price below £100,000, that is Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in Northumberland at £81,442, Withernsea in Yorkshire and the Humber at £93,671 and Fleetwood in Lancashire at £99,210. And Blackpool, one of the most famed and historically popular seaside towns in England, is one the 10 least expensive seaside towns with an average house price of £101,715.
Rhyl with an average of £116,874 is the least expensive Welsh seaside town while Lowestoft at £138,687 has the lowest average house price of seaside towns in southern England.
‘Seaside towns are highly popular places to live. They offer a unique lifestyle with a typically high quality of life and a healthy environment and as a result, living by the coast can come at a price,’ said Martin Ellis, housing economist at the Halifax.
He pointed out that overall the average house price in a seaside town now stands at £197,938. This means that the much sought after life beside the seaside is 17% more affordable when compared to the average house price across England and Wales at £238,091.
The price performance of seaside towns was slightly below the 70% increase across the whole of England and Wales since 2003. However, there was a shift in the comparative performance of seaside towns, which outperformed overall prices in England and Wales in the ten years to 2012.
‘The majority of seaside towns in Wales, East Anglia and the South West have an average house price that is higher than the surrounding area. This is not always the case though and good value properties can be found in many seaside towns, particularly in the South East and Yorkshire and the Humber,’ added Ellis.