‘Oh I do like to be beside the seaside…’

Published 14th Aug 2007

New research from Halifax Estate Agents has identified the 20 seaside towns in Britain that offer the highest quality of life…

It has also examined which seaside towns offer the best value for money.

Christchurch in Dorset, Leigh-on-Sea in Essex and Bexhill-on-Sea in Sussex are the three seaside towns in Britain that are most highly ranked in terms of quality of life. All 20 seaside towns offer a quality of life that ranks them within the top 50% of all towns in the country.

Nine of the 20 seaside towns offering the best quality of life have an average house price below the national average of around £200,000. Bridlington (£139,645), Lowestoft (£141,878) and Great Yarmouth (£142,860) have the lowest average prices. These three towns, therefore, offer a combination of relatively low property prices and high quality of life.

Three seaside towns in the South East – Bexhill, Southend and Herne Bay – all have average house prices of less than £200,000 and are among the 20 seaside towns with the highest quality of life.

Scarborough (£151,652), Weston-super-Mare (£168,593) and Felixstowe (£179,817) also offer both a high quality of life and affordable property prices.

Most expensive seaside towns are in the South West
The most expensive seaside town in Britain is Sandbanks in Dorset with an average price of £488,761. Sandbanks is one of the most expensive towns of any description in the UK. Nine of the ten most expensive seaside towns are in the South West.

Padstow in Cornwall (£334,385) and Milford on Sea in Hampshire (£326,277) are the next most expensive seaside towns after Sandbanks.

House prices in seaside towns tend to trade at a premium
The average seaside town trades at a premium of £5,298 (3%) to the average house price in their county.
The premium is largest in Sandbanks in Dorset (106%), the Mumbles in Wales (92%) and St Andrews in Fife (86%). 24 seaside towns (out of 117 surveyed) have a premium to the average house price in their county of at least 20%.

Opportunities for seaside town buyers exist in the South East

There are sixteen seaside towns which trade at a discount of at least 20% to the average house price in their county.
The discount is largest in Margate (30%) and Dover (29%) in Kent. Seven of the sixteen towns trading at a 20% discount are located in the South East of England.

However, there also towns with a discount of at least 20% in the North, Yorkshire & the Humber and East Anglia.

Scottish seaside towns best performers over three years
Over the past three years, the seaside town with the biggest house price increase was Eyemouth, in the Scottish Borders, with prices up by 82% to £155,278.

Out of the ten largest increases over three years, the top nine were all in Scotland.

Seaham has seen the biggest price rise in England
Seaham, in the North of England, was ranked 10th with a house price increase of 63% over three years to an average price of £121,956. Twenty four of the 117 seaside towns surveyed experienced a rise in average house prices of 50% or more between March 2004 and March 2007.

Colin Kemp, Managing Director, Halifax Estate Agents, said:
"Seaside towns tend to have house prices that are at a premium to their surrounding areas and have generally seen strong house price growth over the past few years.

There are still some bargains to be had for home buyers. Bridlington, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth are the three seaside towns in Britain that offer the best value for money. Several seaside towns in the South East also offer a combination of relatively low property prices and a high quality of life."

Source: ' Move Channel Ltd '

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