Sudbury in Suffolk comes top this year for homes increasing in value the most, with the average asking price of a property rising by 13.1 per cent from £234,569 to £265,291. That’s compared to a national annual rise of 1.2 per cent.
All places in the top ten saw asking price growth of over 9 per cent in 2017, and all were well below the national average of £302,865, with the cheapest being West Bromwich in the West Midlands where asking prices are currently £149,360, up 9.5 per cent on this time last year.
Two places in West Yorkshire make the top ten, Sowerby Bridge and Todmorden, and two in Northamptonshire, Rushden and Kettering. Rushden made the top ten in 2016 as well, when prices went up by 13.4 per cent.
Livingston in West Lothian is where homes have been flying off the shelves the quickest, with the average home finding a buyer in just 23 days, seven days quicker than in 2016. The national average time to sell is 67 days, measured from when the property was first listed on Rightmove to it being marked by agents as ‘under offer’ or ‘sold subject to contract’.
Manchester has been knocked off the top spot for the most searched for place outside London this year, with Bristol making it back to number one for both buying and renting. York and Norwich rise a place each for buyer searches, while Edinburgh rises to fourth after featuring in tenth spot last year.
Miles Shipside, Rightmove’s Housing Expert, comments: “Although prices have grown at a muted rate of 1.2 per cent nationally this year, there are a number of local markets where strong demand and short supply has led to pretty heady price rises, especially in areas where homes are relatively more affordable than some of their nearby cities.”