Press Release: 00049

21 February 2007

Bath cleans up

Source: http://www.ukpropertyshop.co.uk

The city of Bath has often featured in the top 50 most favoured locations and reached as high as No.4 in November 2006, but this is the first time Bath has hit the No.1 spot. Also known as Bath Spa because of its hot springs and famous Roman Baths, this fabulous city is of course renouned for its Georgian architecture and is now designated as a World Heritage site. Visitors throng Bath's streets throughout the year, attracted both by its ambience and also a wide variety of shops, cafes and restaurants, with good transport links and main line railway station just a few minutes walk from the centre. It comes as no surprise that so many people would also like to make Bath their own home, even just for weekends or possible future retirement.

Aberdeen (2), Brighton (3) and Inverness (4), Newcastle (5) and Chester (6) share many of the positive features enjoyed by Bath - the historic buildings and relaxed cosmopolitan atmosphere - which can make city centre living so appealing.

Newquay (8) - voted by home buyers as the most popular place to buy property in 2006 - is still highly placed, despite the time of year. The pace of building construction in the area continues at full stretch, including more and better hotels and restaurants such as Jamie Oliver's "Fifteen" perched on the edge of the beach.

Moving Location Index (Towns) - January 2007

Rank	Town	County	Points
1	Bath	Somerset	266
2	Aberdeen	Aberdeenshire	204
3	Brighton	Sussex	177
4	Inverness	Highland	177
5	Newcastle upon Tyne	Tyne & Wear	166
6	Chester	Cheshire	163
7	Newcastle-under-Lyme	Staffordshire	135
8	Newquay	Cornwall	114
9	Worcester	Worcestershire	105
10	Bournemouth	Dorset	104
11	Leamington Spa	Warwickshire	104
12	Skegness	Lincolnshire	104
13	Harrogate	Yorkshire	94
14	Egham	Surrey	94
15	Scarborough	Yorkshire	91
16	St Ives	Cornwall	91
17	Weymouth	Dorset	86
18	Durham	Durham	85
19	Oxford	Oxfordshire	84
20	Stafford	Staffordshire	84
21	Ayr	Ayrshire	84
22	Lincoln	Lincolnshire	81
23	Worthing	Sussex	81
24	Shrewsbury	Shropshire	81
25	Canterbury	Kent	78
26	Eastbourne	Sussex	75
27	Penzance	Cornwall	75
28	Truro	Cornwall	73
29	Jersey	Channel Islands	71
30	Perth	Perth & Kinross	69
31	Chippenham	Wiltshire	64
32	Greenock	Inverclyde	63
33	Kingston upon Thames	Greater London	63
34	Caerphilly	Caerphilly	63
35	Willenhall	West Midlands	63
36	Winchester	Hampshire	61
37	Cannock	Staffordshire	60
38	Midsomer Norton	Somerset	60
39	Hebden Bridge	Yorkshire	60
40	Wroxham	Norfolk	60
41	Hornsea	Yorkshire	60
42	Greenwich	London	60
43	Southend-on-Sea	Essex	56
44	Gravesend	Kent	56
45	Cheltenham	Gloucestershire	55
46	Paisley	Renfrewshire	55
47	Sleaford	Lincolnshire	55
48	Wirral	Merseyside	54
49	Newton Abbot	Devon	54
50	Gainsborough	Lincolnshire	54

Note for Editors about the Moving Location Index and UK Property Shop

The UK Property Shop Moving Location Index is based on data from a sample of people looking to buy a property and using the website to register their property search requirements with estate agents in each town. From this data a score is calculated according to the number who are considering either moving within the town where they live, or away from their home town and into another town. The Moving Location Index is not a measure of quality, simply an indication of the relative proportion of home buyers wishing to move into or out of a town, which is influenced by many factors.

The UK Property Shop website www.ukpropertyshop.co.uk was launched in 1999 and is a popular source of information for people looking to buy, sell, rent or let residential property in the UK. It also publishes the National Directory of Estate Agents, the most complete and up to date register of all UK estate agents and letting agents.