Buying a home in a market town in England comes with an average price premium of almost £31,000, according to the latest research.
The average price of a property in a market town is £294,772, the figures from Lloyds Banks shows, and that is £30,986 higher than house prices in surrounding county areas.
Northern market towns have been seeing the biggest house price jumps over the past year with prices up by 23% in Ferryhill in Durham and Seahouses in Northumberland, followed by a rise of 14% in Market Bosworth in Leicestershire.
Despite the price jump, Ferryhill is England’s least expensive market town, with an average house price of £96,319. After that is Crook in Durham at £110,213, followed by Immingham in Lincolnshire at £124,220, Saltburn by the Sea in Durham at £148,335 and Stanhope, also in County Durham at £150,295.
Meanwhile, Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, which is within commuting distance to London, is England’s only million pound market town with an average price at £1,031,529.
After Beaconsfield the next most expensive market town is Henley on Thames in Oxfordshire at £797,436, followed by Alresford in Hampshire at £587,746, Midhurst in Sussex at £523,295, Thame in Oxfordshire at £484,537 and Petersfield in Hampshire at £480,743.
In terms of the highest premiums the top market town is Beaconsfield with prices 153% more than in the surrounding area, followed by Wetherby in Yorkshire at 100%, Henley on Thames at 93%, Southwell in Nottinghamshire at 80%, Bakewell in Derbyshire at 78% and Stamford in Lincolnshire at 77%.
‘There are many reasons why home buyers continue to pay a premium for market town properties; the idyllic surroundings of these close knit communities make them the perfect place for many,’ said Andrew Mason, head of mortgages at Lloyds Bank.
