Most expensive cities revealed

 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]

Eight of the top 10 towns -with the highest house price growth on a per square metre (m²) basis over the last decade are in Scotland. Ellon in Aberdeenshire recorded the largest gain over the past ten years – an increase of 169% from £752 per m² in 2002 to £2,022 per m² in 2012. This rate of growth is four times more than the UK as a whole, where the average price has risen by 43% – up from £1,170 per m² to £1,668 per m² – since 2002. 

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.

The smallest price gain was in Newtonards in Northern Ireland where the average price per m² rose by 5% from £871 per m² to £915 per m². Lisburn saw the next smallest rise (8%), followed by Belfast (11%) and Newtonabbey (16%). [See Table 4]

There are three towns in southern England amongst the ten towns with the lowest increase in price per square meter; Chigwell in Essex (17%), Andover in Hampshire (19%) and Swindon (21%).(Table 4) 

Whilst the average price per m² has fallen in the UK by a fifth (21%) since 2007, 24 towns (including London boroughs) have bucked this trend and currently have a price that is higher than five years’ ago. The largest rises since 2007 have been in Ellon (26%), followed by five London boroughs; Islington (20%), Camden (17%), Westminster (16%), Hackney (13%) and Hammersmith and Fulham (12%).

Armagh in Northern Ireland has the largest average property size in the UK, at 153 m². Dunmow in Essex has the second highest average (141 m²).

Westminster has the smallest average property size in the UK, at 71 m²; less than 50% of the average in Armagh. Nine of the ten areas with the smallest average property size are in Greater London.

“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,” said Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax.

“Several towns in Aberdeenshire have seen significantly higher growth in average price per m² than the UK average over the past decade; this, on the main, has been driven by the booming oil industry, which is a key part of the local economy.

“Westminster has the most expensive prices in the UK on a price per square metre. Interestingly, it also has the smallest average property size in the country. Not only has Westminster got one of the highest population densities per square kilometre among UK cities, but it also has a large proportion of properties that are flats”.

Table 1: Ten Most Expensive UK cities based on Price per Square Metre

Source: Halifax; 12 months to July

Table 2: Ten Least Expensive UK cities based on Price per Square Metre

Source: Halifax; 12 months to July

Table 3: UK Towns with the Biggest Price Increases (%) 2002-2012

Source: Halifax; 12 months to July

Table 4: UK Towns with the Smallest Price Increases (%) 2002-2012

Source: Halifax; 12 months to July