The highest percentage rise in house prices of any major UK town or city in 2017 was in Cheltenham with an increase of 13% on the previous year, new research shows.
At the opposite end of the scale the largest annual price fall in house prices was in Perth in Scotland with a decline of 5.3%, according to the research from lender the Halifax.
The average house price in increased from £277,118 to £313,150 in 2017, nearly five times the 2.7% increase in the UK as a whole, with Bournemouth next with prices going up 11.7%.
In third place was Brighton where average prices rose by 11.4% and overall 15 of the 20 top house price performers were in London and southern England with Crawley up 10.4%, Newham up10.2%, Peterborough up 10.1%, Gloucester up 9.5% and Exeter up 9.1%.
‘A number of towns and cities have recorded significant rises in house prices over the past year, with all of the top 20 performers recording growth of at least double the national average,’ said Russell Galley, Halifax managing director.
‘Unlike last year, the top performers are not exclusive to London and the South East, with the top spot now belonging to Cheltenham in the South West, and towns in East Anglia, East Midlands, North West, Wales and Yorkshire and the Humber also making the list,’ he added.
The research also shows that the average house price in the London boroughs of Richmond upon Thames and Barnet have grown in cash terms by over £40,000 since 2016. In Richmond upon Thames, the average house price has risen by £45,463 or 7.6% to £646,112 and in Barnet by £41,697 or 7.7% to £584,049.
Some 13 towns recorded declines in house prices in 2017, with the largest fall in Perth from £190,813 to £180,687, followed by a 4% fall in Stoke on Trent, a 3.6% fall in Paisley, a fall of 2.9% in Wakefield, a fall of 2.2% in Dunfermline and Rotherham, and a 1.1% decline in Aberdeen.
The majority of towns in which house prices have dropped in the last year, are situated within Scotland or Yorkshire and the Humber. Generally speaking, property prices in these areas have been constrained by lower employment levels or relatively weaker economic conditions when compared to those areas that have seen house price growth,’ Galley explained.
