Shropshire Star

Sandbanks remains Britain’s most expensive seaside town

The average house price in Britain’s coastal towns has increased by 25% over the last 10 years.

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Sandbanks in Dorset has been identified as Britain’s most expensive seaside town for the second year in a row.

With an average house price of £664,051, the glamorous hotspot was named as Britain’s priciest seaside location in an annual study by Halifax.

Waterfront homes on Sandbanks in Dorset (Chris Ison/PA)
Waterfront homes on Sandbanks in Dorset (Chris Ison/PA)

Salcombe in Devon, which was the priciest seaside town in 2015, came second on the list in 2017, with an average home valued at £617,743.

During the last 10 years, the average house price in Britain’s seaside towns has increased by 25%, from £181,060 in 2007 to £226,916 in 2017 – equating to an average increase of £382 per month.

Second home buyers are often blamed for helping to push up prices in many popular towns, making it harder for people who grew up in these locations to get on the housing ladder. In April 2016, a stamp duty hike was imposed on second home buyers.

An elderly couple enjoy the sunshine at Sandbanks (Anthony Devlin/PA)
An elderly couple enjoy the sunshine at Sandbanks (Anthony Devlin/PA)

There is a marked north-south divide in property values in seaside towns, Halifax said, with southern England dominating the list of the most expensive towns.

Outside southern England, the most expensive seaside areas are the Scottish locations of North Berwick, where a typical home is worth £314,435 and St Andrews, where a property is valued at around £300,319.

Buyers wanting to be beside the seaside may want to consider focusing their search on Scotland, which has nine out of the 10 least expensive coastal towns.

Port Bannatyne on the Isle of Bute is the least expensive in the survey, with an average price there of £71,550.

Sean Henry's sculpture The Couple, at Newbiggin by the Sea in Northumberland (Owen Humphreys/PA)
Sean Henry’s sculpture The Couple, at Newbiggin by the Sea in Northumberland (Owen Humphreys/PA)

Newbiggin by the Sea in Northumberland follows Port Bannatyne and is the least expensive seaside town in England with an average house price of £75,779.

All the locations on the list of the 10 least expensive seaside towns have average house prices below £100,000.

Halifax used Land Registry and Registers of Scotland house price data.

Here are the most expensive seaside towns, with the average house price in 2017, according to Halifax:

Sunbathers enjoy the warm weather on Brighton Beach (Gareth Fuller/PA)
Sunbathers enjoy the warm weather on Brighton Beach (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Here are the seaside towns with the biggest house price increases over the last decade, with the current average house price and the percentage increase:

Lerwick in the Shetland Isles (Jane Barlow/PA)
Lerwick in the Shetland Isles – home to the Up Helly Aa Viking Festival – has seen a big increase in house prices (Jane Barlow/PA)

And here are the 10 least expensive towns, according to Halifax, with the average house price in 2017:

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