UK house price hotspots among commuter towns revealed

Swanley has seen house prices increase by 10.78 per cent or £36,484 over the past year – enough to offset the cost of rail fares to London

Not all commuter towns have seen growth in property values over the past year (AFP/Getty)

Swanley in Kent, Dursley near Bristol and Bromsgrove in the Midlands have been identified as house price hotspots in a study of commuter towns.

Property website Zoopla made the findings after analysing towns within an hour’s commute of 10 cities.

Areas clustered around London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Sheffield, Liverpool and Nottingham were looked at for annual house price growth.

Zoopla identified Swanley as the best house price performer in the study, with prices increasing by 10.78 per cent, or £36,484, over the past year.

The study said that, based on this typical growth rate, the rising value of a commuter’s home in Swanley could effectively offset the cost of a £2,500 annual London rail fare in less than a month.

Dursley, on the outskirts of Bristol, was placed second, with price growth of 9.71 per cent, or £26,339, over the past year.

Bromsgrove, within reach of Birmingham city centre, was third, with 9.61 per cent growth in property prices over the past 12 months.

This was followed by Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, a popular area with London commuters, which has seen a house price rise of 9.18 per cent over the past 12 months.

Commuter towns within easy reach of Leeds have also seen some relatively strong house price growth.

Homes in Ilkley have risen by 8.52 per cent over the past year, and home owners in Bingley have seen values increase by 7.91 per cent.

But not all commuter towns have seen a general growth in property values over the past year.

At the other end of the spectrum, Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire, Walton-on-Thames in Surrey and Bushey in Hertfordshire had the weakest growth in property values in the study, with annual falls of 5.21 per cent, 4.99 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively.

Lawrence Hall, a spokesman for Zoopla, said: “An easy commute into the office is often very near the top of the property wish list for those looking to move home, and these figures show just how valuable it can be to live within easy reach of a city centre.”

Here are the top 10 commuter towns for house price growth in Zoopla’s study, with the major city nearby, the average house price and the annual growth rate:

1. Swanley, London, £375,066, 10.78 per cent

2. Dursley, Bristol, £297,581, 9.71 per cent

3. Bromsgrove, Birmingham, £301,384, 9.61 per cent

4. Berkhamsted, London, £724,194, 9.18 per cent

5. Blaydon-on-Tyne, Newcastle, £150,377, 9.09 per cent

6. Belper, Nottingham, £252,308, 8.94 per cent

7. Ilkley, Leeds, £404,994, 8.52 per cent

8. Atherstone, Birmingham, £236,734, 8.26 per cent

9. Warwick, Birmingham, £383,488, 8.18 per cent

10. Bingley, Leeds, £231,536, 7.91 per cent

And here are the bottom 10 towns in Zoopla’s study:

1. Burton-on-Trent, Birmingham, £206,843, –5.21 per cent

2. Walton-on-Thames, London, £630,468, –4.99 per cent

3. Bushey, London, £610,846, –4.9 per cent

4. Weybridge, London, £914,740,–4.79 per cent

5. Pontefract, Leeds, £154,844, –2.25 per cent

6. Knottingley, Leeds, £136,860, –2.13 per cent

7. South Ockendon, London, £284,173, –1.94 per cent

8. Frodsham, Manchester, £299,649, –1.65 per cent

9. Welwyn, London, £760,962, –1.53 per cent

10. Wokingham, London, £523,026, –1.49 per cent

PA