The residents of Chiltern have the best quality of life in rural Great Britain with them being the healthiest and best paid, with the highest life expectancy rates of 80 years for newborns.

The claim comes as part of research in Halifax Estate Agents “Rural” Areas Quality of Life Survey. The first survey of the kind from Halifax tracks where living standards are highest in Great Britain’s rural local authorities.

Residents of Chiltern were also found to have the highest average annual salary (£45,000) of any rural local authority in the Halifax top 50. The majority of householders are owner-occupiers (80%), while houses are larger than average (6.3 rooms). And as an added bonus – the area sees slightly more sunshine per week (28.6 hours) than other rural local authorities.

Regionally, it’s the South East that has the best quality of life. Apart from South Cambridgeshire, Rutland and Uttlesford, the top ten rural areas reported by Halifax are in the South East. Thirty-two of the top 50 by quality of life score are in southern England. Of the rest, nine are in the East Midlands, three in West Midlands and in Yorkshire and the Humber, and one in the North West, North East and Scotland.

Rutland in the East Midlands has the best quality of life outside the South of England, ranked sixth in the survey. In Rutland, houses are larger than average, life expectancy is very high and GCSE results are some of the best in Great Britain.

House Prices
House prices trade at a premium to the average house price in their region in 37 of the top 50 rural local authorities with the best quality of life. On average, this premium is £52,974, or 25% above the average house price in the region. In Chiltern, the average house price is £503,226, a premium of £211,083 (72%) to the average house price in the South East.

Waverley and Tandridge, which feature in top three ranked rural local authorities by quality of life also have the most expensive properties. The average house price in Chiltern in 2007 was £503,226, 11% higher than Waverley (£453,811) and 23% higher compared to Tandridge (£408,564).

Halifax also found that average house prices in the top ten rural areas trade at an average premium of £77,730, or 30%, to the region’s average house price. For those rural areas ranked 11th to 20th in the quality of life survey, the premium drops significantly to £24,504 (12%).
Top 50 Local Authorities for the Quality of Life – House Prices

Source: Halifax
Gordon Edwards, Managing Directorat Halifax Estate Agents, commented: “People living in Chiltern have the best quality of life of any rural area in Great Britain. They tend to be healthy, live in larger than average houses and have relatively high earnings. Chiltern also has good school results and the weather is better than average. However, living in Chiltern comes at a price with house prices £211,083 above the average for the South East.

“Thirteen rural local authority areas have a high quality of life combined with lower than average house prices, therefore offering good value for money property.”