Properties in the South East are amongst the most expensive in the UK per square metre, according to the Halifax.

However, towns in Scotland and Northern England have had a better house price growth since 2002. The 2012 Halifax House Price Per Square Metre Survey assesses the most and least expensive of the 59 cities in the UK on an average price per square metre basis.

In addition, the survey also examines the movement in house prices in 489 UK towns (including 32 London boroughs which have been classified as towns for this research) over the past decade.

The Halifax says that analysing average prices per square metre is a useful measure for house price comparison, helping to adjust for differences in property size and type across areas. 

Despite having the smallest average property size in the UK, at 71 m², Westminster is the most expensive city in the UK on a price per m² basis with an average value of £7,586 per m². It is the only city within Greater London to feature in the top 10 most expensive cities in the UK. This is more than twice the price of the next most expensive city – St. Albans (£3,227 per m²) – and four and half times higher than the UK average (£1,668 per m²).

The next most expensive cities are Oxford (£2,821 per m²), Winchester (£2,813 per m²), Chichester (£2,638 per m²) and Cambridge (£2,634). The only city in the ten most expensive from outside southern England is Edinburgh (£2,125 per m²).

In northern England, York is the most expensive city with an average price per m² of £1,830, followed by Worcester (£1,730 per m²) and Chester (£1,636 per m²). Cardiff (£1,504 per m²) and Belfast (£1,064 per m²) top the list in Wales and Northern Ireland respectively.

With a value of £817 per m2, Londonderry is the UK’s least expensive city; followed by Lisburn (£945 per m²) on this measure. The two Northern Ireland towns are followed by Hull (£1,027 per m²), Bradford (£1,042 per m²) and Swansea (£1,063 per m²). [See Table 2]