Greater London is the UK’s burglary claim capital for the fourth year running in MoneySuperMarket’s annual Burglary Claims Tracker.

The analysis highlighted areas with the highest number of burglary insurance claims with South and West Yorkshire and Manchester also appearing in the top 20 highest risk postcodes. The UK’s number one comparison site analysed 2.68 million home insurance quotes run on the site over 12 months for its annual Burglary Claims Tracker.

This identifies the postcodes where homeowners are most likely to have made a claim for theft and burglary. The annual Tracker found 14 of the top 20 postcodes for burglary claims are in London and Greater London, up from 12 out of 20 last year. Dagenham, located to the east of London and home to the famous Ford manufacturer plant, is the nation’s overall burglary claim hotspot.

Greater London’s eastern postcodes dominate the top claim spots for burglaries with Gants Hill, Newbury Park and Alborough Hatch (IG2) and Hornchurch, Emerson Park and Ardleigh Green (RM11) featuring high in the list.

Woodford and South Woodford (E18) in East London is the postcode with the fifth highest number of claims, while London’s sought after south-west suburbs of Teddington and Bushy Park (TW11) are also among the highest claim areas.

Manchester’s M21 postcode, including Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, on the outskirts of the city, slipped from top spot last year to third position in this year’s top 20 burglary claims table. Postcodes in Yorkshire and London dominate the rest of the hotspots, with 20% of the claims clusters located in West Yorkshire.

Kevin Pratt, spokesperson at MoneySuperMarket, said: “Our annual Burglary Claims Tracker reveals the nation’s burglary claim hotspots, and once again London and Greater London postcodes dominate. The research reveals Dagenham is the UK’s top burglary hotspot, with a rate of 55 out of every 1,000 insurance quotes having made a claim in the past two years.

“Burglars often target urban areas where there’s more hustle and bustle and so less risk of being caught, but not surprisingly they also follow the money, which is why affluent areas such as Teddington and Temple Newsam in West Yorkshire appearing in the top 20 claims hotspots.”