Salcombe in Devon is the UK’s priciest seaside town but prices have risen the most in the last year in Broadstairs in Kent, the latest real estate research shows.
The most expensive homes are in the Devon town where the average price is £635,435, followed by Aldeburgh in Suffolk at £517,517 and Southwold, also in Suffolk at £455,983.
The research from property portal Zoopla also shows that homes in Broadstairs have increased by 10.45% in the last 12 months, with the second biggest growth seen in Walton on the Naze in Essex at 9.43% and Sidmouth in Devon, up 7.51%.
All of the top 10 costliest seaside towns are along the south coast of England from Suffolk to Cornwall apart from North Berwick in Scotland where the average price is £361,540. The 10 biggest rises have also been along the same coast apart from Blyth in Northumberland where prices increased 5.64%.
According to Lawrence Hall, spokesperson for Zoopla, Broadstairs is popular because it is close to London, with a commute of around one and a half hours to St Pancras and many of the seaside hotspots have undergone major investment through regeneration projects.
Overall eight coastal hotspots were new entries in the league: Broadstairs, Sidmouth, Penzance, Falmouth, Clacton-on-Sea, Blyth, Newquay and Southend-on-Sea.
At the other end of the scale, however, of the 117 coastal locations covered by the research Cruden Bay and Collieston, both in Aberdeenshire, have seen average property price drop by 4.79%.
Blyth and Southend-on-Sea have enjoyed multi-million pound investments recently, helping to increase their desirability,’ said Hall. In March this year Southend-on-Sea borough council gave the go-ahead to transform a vacant unit on the seafront into a cultural venue and café. The work complements plans to revamp the pier entrance, to further boost tourism in the area.
Other new entries such as Clacton-on-Sea, Newquay and Penzance will also benefit from further investment, starting soon, with large regeneration, new housing and tourism projects in the pipeline.
