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Mike Kelly

Whitley Bay and South Shields among the seaside property hotspots of the UK

Two areas in the North East have been identified as seaside property hotspots in the UK.

The analysis by property website Rightmove looks at the increase in asking price for houses in the area compared to last year.

It revealed that in the North East, Whitley Bay had seen the biggest jump to £318,942, a rise of 15%.

Read more: Whitley Bay's iconic Grant's Clock set to return after being damaged during Storm Arwen

Meanwhile not far behind comes South Shields. The average asking price there now is £152,294, up 10% year-on-year.

Across the UK, Canford Cliffes in Poole, Dorset, was ranked the top seaside price hotspot with asking prices rising nearly a quarter (24%) over the last year.

Brixham in Devon is the second asking price hotspot (+23%), and Abergele in Conwy, Wales is third (+22%).

The Word, national centre for the written word, in South Shields (Handout)

Across all seaside locations in Great Britain, asking prices are up 13.9% on average compared to last year, outpacing the national average of 9.9% following increased demand for coastal areas during the pandemic.

Since the pandemic started, there has been strong demand for homes in coastal areas. This demand has often outstripped supply, which has contributed to the rising asking prices being seen now.

Competition for homes in seaside locations during the last year has meant the pace of the market has increased. The average time to find a buyer in a seaside location is 33 days, and on average, homes are finding buyers nearly three weeks (20 days) quicker than last year.

Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s Director of Property Science said: "We're in a unique position to be able to see activity across the whole of the market, which gives is a strong indication of how buyers are behaving in real time.

"We know that demand, which we measure by enquiries to estate agents from prospective buyers on Rightmove, is often a lead indicator of price, and right at the start of the pandemic when the market re-opened we saw huge surge in demand for these coastal areas as people wanted to a sea view of more space near the coast.

"There have been large periods where demand has greatly outstripped supply over the last couple of years which has contributed to the significant rise in asking prices we're seeing today."

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