Average house prices in fifteen of the eighteen spa towns surveyed are significantly higher than those in their neighbouring towns. Boston Spa, £153,629, or 98%, and Ilkley, £152,022, or 97%, both in West Yorkshire, command the highest house price premium compared to their county average.
Only three spa towns have house prices below their county average: Epsom in Surrey, less 5%, Llandrindod Wells in Powys, less7%, and Boston in Lincolnshire, less 15%, the research also shows.
Fifteen spa towns have seen houses prices at least double in the past decade. The largest increase was in Builth Wells in Powys, up 53%, followed by Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire, up 143%, Boston Spa, up 141%, and Matlock in Derbyshire, up 140%.
The research found that Epsom is the most expensive spa town in the country with an average house price of £357,837, followed by Tunbridge Wells at £337,144 and Bath at £324,250.
The least expensive spa towns are Boston in Lincolnshire with an average price of £132,912 and Llandrindod Wells in Wales at £168,428.
‘Spa towns tend to have a larger stock of period architecture, such as Georgian or Regency, which are often larger and command higher prices. Spa towns are also often thought of as having a high quality of life, including excellent schools, lower crime rates, and lesser traffic volumes, all of which drive desirability in these areas and ramp up value. It all adds up to a significant success story for the housing market in these areas,’ said Nitesh Patel, housing economist at Lloyds TSB.
Buyers must part with over £100,000 more to live in one of the spa towns in waht is known as Yorkshire's Golden Triangle. House prices in the spa towns of Boston Spa, Ilkley, Harrogate and Knaresborough are, on average, £105,000, or 59%, higher than their county average.
The average age of the housing stock in spa towns is 67 years, which is thirteen years older than for the UK average of 54 years. Bath and Matlock have the oldest housing stocks with an average property age of 92 years.
Houses in spa towns also tend be bigger than in the UK as a whole, with an average of 5.5 habitable rooms compared to the national average of 5.2. The largest houses are in Ilkley and Malvern with an average of 5.8 habitable rooms in both towns.
