New look

We've made some changes
to The Sunday Times

Navigation - link to other main sections from here

From The Times

June 16, 2007

Seaside house prices soar

Lucy Alexander

The city-dweller’s dream of downsizing to a seaside cottage or owning a second home on the coast is alive and well... and pushing up property prices. Britain’s seaside towns, with some notable exceptions, are some of the most expensive places to buy a house.

In 24 seaside towns the average property is at least 20 per cent more expensive than the county average, according to the annual review of seaside towns conducted by Halifax Estate Agents. This is most marked in the South West, which accounts for nine of the ten most expensive seaside towns in the UK. Property prices in Sandbanks in Dorset, where the average house costs £488,761, are 106 per cent higher than the Dorset average of £237,774. The national average is £196,895. In Padstow, where Cornish separatists this week protested against English “incomers”, specifically the restaurateurs Jamie Oliver and Rick Stein, pushing up property prices, houses cost £118,785 more than the Cornish average.

The most expensive coastal town in Wales is The Mumbles, where property prices are, at £261,268, at a 92 per cent premium to the rest of West Glamorgan. North of the border, St Andrews tops the price list for seaside towns – houses there, at £223,894, cost 86 more than the Fife average. Prices along the Scottish coastline performed particularly strongly, accounting for six of the ten best-performing seaside towns in Britain over the past year, lead by Girvan in South Ayrshire, where prices rose by 41 per cent from £93,290 to £131,512. In total, more than one third of seaside towns experienced an increase of at least 10 per cent in their average house price in the past year.

However, those who pine for a life of beach-combing and deck-chairs should not despair. There are still bargains to be had along Britain’s coastline, particularly in its south-eastern corner. House prices in 16 seaside towns, seven of which are in the South East, are at least 20 per cent lower than their county’s average. Margate, where the cost of the average house, at £155,084, represents a 30 per cent discount on Kent prices, leads the ranks of the cheaper-than-average, followed by nearby Dover, where prices are 29 per cent lower than the local market rate. With Ramsgate and Folkestone following close behind, Kent, it seems, is the place to go for a cut-price seaside bolt-hole.

So Jane, if you owned a property in the area where you grew up - would you sell it at a lower rate to a local so they could continue to live in the area? Or, would you sell it for the highest achievable price like everyone else?

Emma , London ,

Lake District house prices soar, driven by the rich from Manchester zooming up the motorway, even commuting from Barrow. There is little chance of buying a house in the area you were brought up and knew well.

Jane Fleming, Whittlesey, CAMBRIDGESHIRE