Halifax County House Price Survey of the UK
The annual Halifax County House Price Survey of the UK is compiled using information sourced from the company's own extensive housing statistics database. Halifax is the UK's largest mortgages provider and publishes the longest running monthly house price index in the UK. The unitary authorities of Scotland and Wales are referred to as counties for the purposes of this study.
WALES AND SCOTLAND DOMINATE THE COUNTY HOUSE PRICE TABLE OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS
New Halifax research shows that no county now has an average price below £100,000. This is the first year that this has been the case. In 2001, nearly two in three counties – 63 out of 101 - had an average price below £100,000.
The ten counties that have delivered the highest house price growth over the past five years are all in Wales and Scotland. (The unitary authorities of Scotland and Wales are referred to as counties for the purposes of this research.) Nine of the ten counties recording the smallest price gains over the same period are in southern England.
Nineteen counties had an average price in excess of £200,000 in 2006. Five years ago, Surrey was the only county with an average price above £200,000.
Biggest House Price Increases 2001-2006
Merthyr Tydfil has recorded the biggest house price rises over the past five years with a 175% gain, taking the average price from £45,578 in 2001 to £125,450 in 2006.
The next five best performers during the past five years were also all in Wales: Blaenau Gwent (160%), Carmarthenshire (156%), Isle of Anglesey (143%), Rhondda, Cynon, Taff (138%) and Conwy (136%).
The top performing counties in England between 2001 and 2006 are County Durham (127%) and the East Riding of Yorkshire (121%).
The average house price has more than doubled since 2001 in nearly one in two counties (48 out of 101).
No county in southern England has seen prices double since 2001 with Cornwall (95%) and Devon (78%) recording the biggest price rises over the period.
Smallest House Price Gains 2001-2006
Seven counties have experienced house price rises of 50% or less since 2001. All these counties are in the South East and South West.
Hampshire and Wiltshire (both 41%) have recorded the lowest average house price gains in the past five years followed by Berkshire (42%) and Oxfordshire (43%).
Most Expensive Counties
Surrey remains the most expensive county in the UK with an average price in 2006 of £328,453.
Surrey, Hertfordshire and Berkshire were the three most expensive counties in the UK in both 2001 and 2006. These three counties, together with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, comprised the five most expensive counties in the UK both now and five years ago.
Nine of the ten most expensive counties in 2006 are in the South East with Dorset in the South West being the exception. The 10 most expensive counties all have an average price in excess of £200,000.
The most expensive areas outside southern England are Monmouthshire (£208,038), Warwickshire (£206,024), Edinburgh (£202,545) and North Yorkshire (£202,477).
Least Expensive Counties
Blaenau Gwent remains the least expensive county in the UK with an average house price in 2006 of £107,451 (£41,352 in 2001) despite recording the second biggest rise in average house prices in the UK over the five years.
Nine of the ten least expensive counties in the UK in 2006 are in Scotland (6) and Wales (3). In 2001, five of the least expensive areas were in Scotland with four in Wales.
Commenting, Martin Ellis, chief economist, said:
"Wales, Scotland and, to a lesser extent, Northern Ireland, have dominated the UK county league table for house price growth over the past five years. Southern England, by contrast, has lagged behind. Much of the outperformance by these parts of the UK has been part of a catch-up process with the greater availability of more affordable property stimulating demand and therefore allowing prices to rise more quickly.
It is noteworthy that counties in the South East have retained their position as the most expensive whilst the least expensive counties continue to be in Scotland and Wales. Overall, there has been little change in the relative position of counties in the house price league over the past five years."
Editors' Notes:
The prices quoted in this release are taken from the Halifax House Price database and refer to calendar year averages. Prices are arithmetic average prices of houses - otherwise known as crude averages - on which an offer of mortgages has been granted. These prices are not standardised and therefore can be affected by changes in the sample from year to year – as such care should be taken when comparing prices. Figures include properties sold for £1 million plus.
"This report is prepared from information that we believe is collated with care, however, it is only intended to highlight issues and it is not intended to be comprehensive. We reserve the right to vary our methodology and to edit or discontinue/withdraw this, or any other report. Any use of this report for an individual's own or third party commercial purposes is done entirely at the risk of the person making such use and solely the responsibility of the person or persons making such reliance. © HBOS plc all rights reserved 2006"
Table 1: Counties – Ranked by % Change 2001- 2006
County (unitary authorities in Scotland and Wales) |
Region |
2001 Average |
2006 Average Price |
% change |
Merthyr Tydfil |
Wales |
45,578 |
125,450 |
175% |
Blaenau Gwent |
Wales |
41,352 |
107,451 |
160% |
Carmarthenshire |
Wales |
61,365 |
157,149 |
156% |
Isle of Anglesey |
Wales |
70,390 |
170,951 |
143% |
Rhondda, Cynon, Taff |
Wales |
51,147 |
121,752 |
138% |
Conwy |
Wales |
71,432 |
168,528 |
136% |
Clackmannanshire |
Scotland |
58,634 |
137,683 |
135% |
East Ayrshire |
Scotland |
54,913 |
128,097 |
133% |
Dundee City |
Scotland |
53,848 |
124,301 |
131% |
Moray |
Scotland |
59,813 |
137,629 |
130% |
County Tyrone |
Northern Ireland |
67,799 |
155,902 |
130% |
County Durham |
North |
61,689 |
139,799 |
127% |
Neath Port Talbot |
Wales |
56,183 |
126,992 |
126% |
South Ayrshire |
Scotland |
71,126 |
160,527 |
126% |
North Ayrshire |
Scotland |
53,748 |
121,246 |
126% |
County Armagh |
Northern Ireland |
75,360 |
169,162 |
124% |
Denbighshire |
Wales |
66,958 |
149,607 |
123% |
Wrexham |
Wales |
73,625 |
164,169 |
123% |
Bridgend |
Wales |
70,209 |
155,887 |
122% |
Pembrokeshire |
Wales |
76,204 |
168,894 |
122% |
East Riding |
Yorkshire & the Humber |
62,494 |
137,837 |
121% |
North Lanarkshire |
Scotland |
57,014 |
125,496 |
120% |
Swansea |
Wales |
68,137 |
149,916 |
120% |
Cleveland |
North |
65,684 |
144,397 |
120% |
Gwynedd |
Wales |
66,656 |
144,605 |
117% |
Angus |
Scotland |
63,185 |
136,890 |
117% |
Fife |
Scotland |
60,435 |
130,925 |
117% |
South Humberside |
Yorkshire & the Humber |
57,996 |
124,780 |
115% |
Aberdeenshire |
Scotland |
80,705 |
171,458 |
112% |
Midlothian |
Scotland |
80,153 |
168,474 |
110% |
South Yorkshire |
Yorkshire & the Humber |
65,931 |
138,437 |
110% |
Powys |
Wales |
84,759 |
177,644 |
110% |
Caerphilly |
Wales |
63,122 |
132,063 |
109% |
Tyne and Wear |
North |
70,689 |
147,317 |
108% |
West Yorkshire |
Yorkshire & the Humber |
74,117 |
154,120 |
108% |
Falkirk |
Scotland |
63,115 |
130,167 |
106% |
Perth and Kinross |
Scotland |
78,042 |
160,854 |
106% |
Lancashire |
North West |
71,683 |
147,472 |
106% |
South Lanarkshire |
Scotland |
67,657 |
138,737 |
105% |
Torfaen |
Wales |
63,551 |
130,294 |
105% |
Inverclyde |
Scotland |
65,323 |
133,878 |
105% |
Highland |
Scotland |
71,374 |
145,849 |
104% |
County Londonderry |
Northern Ireland |
77,920 |
158,053 |
103% |
Newport |
Wales |
77,047 |
156,015 |
102% |
Flintshire |
Wales |
78,806 |
159,409 |
102% |
Glasgow City |
Scotland |
68,712 |
138,237 |
101% |
Lincolnshire |
East Midlands |
79,205 |
158,893 |
101% |
Northumberland |
North |
76,926 |
153,764 |
100% |
Derbyshire |
East Midlands |
83,362 |
164,753 |
98% |
Merseyside |
North West |
77,143 |
151,807 |
97% |
Renfrewshire |
Scotland |
64,213 |
125,531 |
95% |
Cornwall |
South West |
106,017 |
207,129 |
95% |
County |
Region |
2001 Average Price |
2006 Average Price |
% change |
West Lothian |
Scotland |
75,044 |
146,113 |
95% |
West Dunbartonshire |
Scotland |
57,620 |
112,002 |
94% |
Cumbria |
North |
79,440 |
154,029 |
94% |
Argyll and Bute |
Scotland |
78,478 |
151,048 |
92% |
Dumfries and Galloway |
Scotland |
66,090 |
126,509 |
91% |
County Antrim |
Northern Ireland |
85,129 |
162,195 |
91% |
Nottinghamshire |
East Midlands |
78,077 |
147,775 |
89% |
The Vale of Glamorgan |
Wales |
102,926 |
193,943 |
88% |
Ceredigion |
Wales |
87,781 |
164,912 |
88% |
Scottish Borders |
Scotland |
83,525 |
156,723 |
88% |
North Yorkshire |
Yorkshire & the Humber |
109,667 |
202,477 |
85% |
Edinburgh, City of |
Scotland |
109,723 |
202,545 |
85% |
Shropshire |
West Midlands |
104,765 |
191,456 |
83% |
Leicestershire |
East Midlands |
94,375 |
172,315 |
83% |
East Lothian |
Scotland |
100,686 |
183,437 |
82% |
Stirling |
Scotland |
100,385 |
179,333 |
79% |
Devon |
South West |
109,421 |
194,783 |
78% |
Staffordshire |
West Midlands |
84,665 |
150,579 |
78% |
West Midlands |
West Midlands |
90,737 |
160,812 |
77% |
County Down |
Northern Ireland |
106,318 |
187,443 |
76% |
East Dunbartonshire |
Scotland |
104,386 |
181,380 |
74% |
Somerset |
South West |
118,473 |
203,336 |
72% |
East Renfrewshire |
Scotland |
111,746 |
191,596 |
71% |
Herefordshire |
West Midlands |
116,962 |
199,628 |
71% |
Monmouthshire |
Wales |
122,972 |
208,038 |
69% |
Cambridgeshire |
East Anglia |
118,339 |
199,074 |
68% |
Cheshire |
North West |
112,502 |
188,976 |
68% |
Suffolk |
East Anglia |
114,296 |
190,943 |
67% |
Isle Of Wight |
South East |
110,556 |
183,040 |
66% |
Cardiff |
Wales |
101,870 |
168,619 |
66% |
Northamptonshire |
East Midlands |
106,608 |
175,112 |
64% |
Norfolk |
East Anglia |
104,167 |
170,422 |
64% |
Dorset |
South West |
141,473 |
231,109 |
63% |
Warwickshire |
West Midlands |
126,845 |
206,024 |
62% |
Gloucestershire |
South West |
131,099 |
209,312 |
60% |
Avon |
South West |
128,542 |
204,075 |
59% |
East Sussex |
South East |
146,514 |
231,323 |
58% |
Kent |
South East |
147,508 |
230,164 |
56% |
Essex |
South East |
143,176 |
223,035 |
56% |
Bedfordshire |
South East |
128,474 |
198,756 |
55% |
Worcestershire |
West Midlands |
127,363 |
195,363 |
53% |
West Sussex |
South East |
161,641 |
247,681 |
53% |
Surrey |
South East |
218,972 |
328,453 |
50% |
Buckinghamshire |
South East |
185,037 |
272,118 |
47% |
Hertfordshire |
South East |
193,616 |
283,357 |
46% |
Oxfordshire |
South East |
187,518 |
269,075 |
43% |
Berkshire |
South East |
197,530 |
279,779 |
42% |
Wiltshire |
South West |
135,625 |
191,856 |
41% |
Hampshire |
South East |
152,992 |
216,371 |
41% |
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