New research from Halifax Estate Agents highlights that home buyers are prepared to pay a premium to live in a spa town. All 18 spa towns have higher average house prices than their region, while 16 out of 18 spa towns have higher average house prices than the neighbouring towns in their county.
Spa towns tend to rank highly for key drivers of the quality of life. 16 out of 18 spa towns are in local authority (LA) areas, which have larger than average houses. Owner occupation rates are higher than average in the LAs of 15 spa towns, while traffic levels are lower than average in the LAs of 15 spa towns. 16 spa towns are in LAs that have higher than average employment levels.
Epsom in Surrey is the most expensive spa town with an average price of £297,354, followed by Tunbridge Wells in Kent (£279,978) and Boston Spa in West Yorkshire (£277,215). The least expensive spa towns are Llanddrindod and Builth Wells, both in Powys in Wales with average house prices of £158,687 and £173,405 respectively.
Builth Wells in Powys has also been the best performing spa town over the past five years with a 144% increase in its average house price, followed by Boston Spa in West Yorkshire (112%) and Matlock in Derbyshire (103%). The ten best performing spa towns since 2001 are all outside the south of England. Three of the five spa towns with the smallest house price increase over five years are in the South of England.
* All 18 spa towns have higher average house prices than the average house price in their region, while 16 out of 18 spa towns have higher average house prices than the neighbouring towns in their county.
* Fifteen out of eighteen spa towns have an average house price above £200,000. All spa towns in the South East, South West, West Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber have an average house price above £200,000.
* Eight spa towns trade at a premium of more than 30% to the average house price in their county and nine of these are located outside the south of England. Three are located in Yorkshire & the Humber (Boston Spa, Ilkley and Knaresborough), three in the East Midlands (Shearsby, Matlock and Woodhall Spa) with one each in the South West (Bath) and the South East (Tunbridge Wells). The premium is largest in Boston Spa (95%) and Ilkley (88%), both in West Yorkshire and Bath (38%).
* There are two spa towns which trade at a discount to the average house price in their county - Llandrindod Wells in Powys (7%) and Epsom in Surrey (1%).
