Scotland and the North of England command the top 10 positions in a new list of house price performance in the UK, according to research from Halifax.
Its House Price Per Square Metre Survey studies the movement in house prices on an average price per square metre (m2) basis in 467 UK towns (including 32 London boroughs which have been classified as towns for this research).
Six of the top 10 towns – and all of the top four – with the highest house price growth on a per square metre basis over the past 10 years are in Scotland. Peterhead has recorded the largest gain in average price per square metre (m²) over the past 10 years: the Aberdeenshire town has seen an increase of 160% to £1,254 per m² in 2011 from £481 per m2 in 2001.
Inverurie, another Aberdeenshire town, has experienced the second largest gain in the UK (142%) since 2001 followed by Montrose (135%). The other four towns in the top 10 are all in northern England.
The majority of towns that have seen the highest price growth over the past decade had relatively low prices in 2001. Strong economic growth over the decade as a whole has also helped to drive up prices in many of those areas that have seen substantial price gains. This is apparent in several towns in Aberdeenshire where the economy has been stimulated by the strong performance of the oil sector.
10 towns with the smallest rises since 2001 are all in Northern Ireland and southern England. House prices in Belfast (25%) and Lisburn (31%) have increased the least on a per square metre basis since 2001. Four of the 10 towns with the smallest gains are in Northern Ireland with the remainder all in southern England. The majority of towns recording the smallest rises over the decade had relatively high prices in 2001.
The average price per square metre is currently higher than in 2007 in only 12 areas in the UK. Epping has seen the biggest rise over this period (12%). The two best performers over the last decade as a whole have also seen increases since 2007: Peterhead (7%) and Inverurie (10%). There are five London boroughs amongst these 12 areas where prices are currently higher than in 2007, including Westminster (5%) and Islington (4%), reflecting the general outperformance of the London market compared with the rest of the country in the past two years.
Halifax says average price per square metre is a useful measure for house price comparison, helping to adjust for differences in property size and type across areas. The average price per square metre is calculated by dividing the average house price by the average square metres per property (excluding external space). The price per square metre can be converted into price per square foot by dividing by 10.7639104.
