The past year saw house prices in Britain’s prime housing markets outside of London surge at the strongest pace in a decade, new research showed.
The prime price bracket accounts for the top 5 to 10 percent of the housing market by value.
The value of homes in the UK’s prime housing markets outside of the capital grew by 9.3 percent on average, research by property advisers Savills - the strongest annual growth since 2010.
The surge was led by people looking to upsize and move out of cities post-lockdown.
Coastal areas such as Devon and Cornwall recorded an average price growth of 15.6 percent during the year, thanks to high demand and shrinking supply.
Properties in the Cotswolds in the £2 million-plus market also saw a huge jump in price growth, with values increasing by 23.4 percent. This was driven by local homeowners looking to upsize, those relocating from elsewhere and aspiring second home owners, Savills said.
"In these markets, the rarity factors: whether a rarely available type of property; the most sought after locations; or simply the very best view, have combined with high levels of buyer demand and wealth, to create pockets of extremely strong market conditions," said Frances Clacy from Savills.
"New buyer numbers over the past month are running 1.5 times higher than at the same time in the two years pre-pandemic, suggesting that these trends will carry through into the early part of next year, at least."
London’s prime housing market didn’t see the same growth as those outside of the capital, with only London’s largest houses (six bedrooms or more) coming close. Price growth in prime central London averaged 2.0 percent while price growth in outer prime London averaged 3.7 percent.
Recent analysis by estate agent Hamptons found London-based home-buyers purchased more properties outside the city during 2021 than in any year since 2007 (112,700 homes), with first-time buyers making up 24 percent of this figure.
However, price growth totalled 9.1 percent year-on-year across prime urban locations, compared with 9.4 percent growth in the prime markets surrounding cities such as Bath, Bristol, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Winchester and York, according to Savills’ data.
"Since the summer we’ve seen the return of strong buyer demand in key prime city locations," said Ms Clacy.
"But the value on offer in village and rural markets, because of their longer term underperformance, will continue to drive demand in these areas."
Additional reporting by Press Association
