Irvine in Strathclyde is the UK’s top property hotspot

Irvine in Strathclyde, Scotland is the UK’s top property hotspot with a 44% rise in prices over the past year. Average prices in Irvine are up from £69,536 in 2004 Quarter 2 to £100,249 in 2005 Quarter 2.

New research from Halifax shows that Scottish and Welsh towns dominate the UK top 10 with five and two towns respectively in the list. Additionally, all 10 towns recording the biggest price increases in the last 12 months are outside southern England. Port-Talbot (43%), Motherwell (41%), Glenrothes (39%) and Blackwood in Gwent (38%), along with Irvine, make up the top five.

There have been significant changes to the top ten in recent quarters with only one town, Port Talbot, in the list six months ago. All 10 towns delivering the strongest price rises over the past year had, and continue to have, average house prices below the UK average.

At a county level, County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland (31%) has seen the biggest price rises over the last year followed by Highlands in Scotland (27%) and Dumfries & Galloway in Scotland (22%).

A number of counties in the South East have recorded small house price falls over the past year: Oxfordshire (-2%), Buckinghamshire (-1%), Hertfordshire (-1%) and Surrey (-1%).
Commenting upon the housing market in the UK, Martin Ellis, Chief Economist, said:
“Areas outside southern England, particularly in Scotland and Wales, have experienced the most buoyant housing market conditions over the past year. It has been those areas where prices have, on average, been lowest that have delivered the biggest gains in prices as property has remained more affordable in these places.

The economic fundamentals underpinning the housing market are sound. Earnings growth is robust. The UK economy continues to grow with the number in employment at a record high, and mortgage payments are very close to their long-term historical average as a proportion of income for new borrowers.

Although the slowdown in house price inflation over the past year has been broadly based, there continues to be a distinct north/south divide with more subdued, or falling prices, across southern England. As a result, the gap between prices in London and the rest of the UK has fallen to its lowest for 8 years.”