House prices: £12k will now buy just ONE square metre of property in Kensington and Chelsea
06-24-2015
ByVicky Shaw
The London borough has been named as Britain's most expensive place for property on a square metre basis, with the average square metre of a home there setting a buyer back £11,635
PA
Egerton Crescent in the royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London
Surging house prices mean that £12,000 would buy just one square metre of a property in Kensington and Chelsea, according to a report.
The London borough was named by Halifax as Britain's most expensive place for property on a square metre basis, with the average square metre of a home there setting a buyer back £11,635.
One square metre of a property in Kensington and Chelsea costs nearly six times the national average of £2,033.
The borough is the only area in Britain with an average price above £10,000 per square metre, with Westminster having the next highest price, at £9,571.
All of the top 10 most expensive areas were in London, with Camden, Hammersmith and Fulham, Islington, Wandsworth and Hackney also on the list.
Outside southern England, Altrincham in Cheshire is the most expensive town, with properties costing around £2,446 per square metre.
Solihull, Warwick, Leamington Spa, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Harrogate and York were also among the most expensive towns for property outside London on a square metre basis.
Home
buyers looking to buy more space with their cash might want to consider Aberdare or Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, Wishaw or Airdrie in Scotland, or head for Accrington or Blackpool in Lancashire, the research suggests.
Aberdare was found to be Britain's cheapest town for property, with one square metre costing £910 on average.
Halifax said that across the country, house prices per square metre have surged by 18% since 2010.
Blackpool Tower
Greater London has experienced substantially faster growth than elsewhere in Britain with an average increase of 45%.
Some London boroughs have seen particularly large jumps in the price of property per metre squared since 2010, with Hackney recording a 71% increase and Southwark recording an uplift of 70%.
Halifax made its calculations by looking at average house prices across 331 towns, using its database, and dividing these by typical property sizes, to get the average price per metre squared.
Craig McKinlay, mortgages director at Halifax, said: "House price per square metre is a useful measure for house price comparison because it helps to adjust for differences in the size and type of properties between locations.
"Parts of central London are substantially more expensive than anywhere else in the country.
"Nonetheless, there are a number of notable pockets outside the south of England where property prices are also high price per square metre.
"There has been a clear widening in the gap between southern England, particularly London, and the rest of the country over the past 20 years - a trend that has continued during the last five years."
Here are the 10 most expensive areas per square metre in Britain, according to Halifax, with the average price per square metre:
Kensington and Chelsea, London, £11,635
Westminster, London, £9,571
Camden, London, £8,829
Hammersmith and Fulham, London, £8,306
Islington, London, £7,399
Wandsworth, London, £6,761
Richmond upon Thames, London, £6,265
Hackney, London, £6,196
Tower Hamlets, London, £5,980
Southwark, London, £5,962
Here are the 10 most expensive areas per square metre in Britain outside southern England, with the average price per square metre:
Altrincham, North West, £2,446
Solihull, West Midlands, £2,367
Warwick, West Midlands, £2,363
Leamington Spa, West Midlands, £2,353
Edinburgh, Scotland, £2,297
Aberdeen, Scotland, £2,281
Harrogate, Yorkshire and the Humber, £2,196
Sale, North West, £2,138
Cheadle, North West, £2,033
York, Yorkshire and the Humber, £2,024
Here are the 10 least expensive areas per square metre in Britain, with the average price per square metre:
Aberdare, Wales, £910
Wishaw, Scotland, £926
Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, £967
Accrington, North West, £990
Airdrie, Scotland, £998
=6. Greenock, Scotland, £1,004
=6. Coatbridge, Scotland, £1,004
8. Neath, Wales, £1,005
9. Scunthorpe, Yorkshire and the Humber, £1,022
10. Blackpool, North West, £1,052
And here are average property prices per square metre on a regional basis and the percentage increase in the prices since 2010:
