With city living a popular lifestyle choice and intense competition amongst towns to be awarded city status, new research by Halifax Estate Agents has investigated the movement of house prices in the 66 official cities in the UK.
Armagh has recorded the biggest increase in house prices of any UK city over the past five years with a rise of 188%. All four cities with the highest house price growth in the last five years are in Northern Ireland, reflecting the phenomenal rise in prices across Northern Ireland in the past few years. Two Scottish cities - Dundee and Aberdeen - and two Welsh cities - Swansea and St David's - also feature amongst the ten top performing cities over the period.
House prices in the UK's cities exceed those in their region by an average £11,000. Thirteen cities have an average house price that is at least £50,000 above their region's average. Thirty-one cities have an average house price above the average in their region.
Westminster is the UK's most expensive city with an average property price of £601,821. Winchester (£379,643) is the most expensive city outside Greater London. Hull (£128,863) and Stoke-on-Trent (£134,978) are the two least expensive cities in the UK.
Places that have been conferred city status since 2000 have generally recorded higher house price rises since becoming cities.
Cardiff has recorded the smallest increase in house prices in the past five years with a rise of 41%. Inverness has been the best performing "millennium" city - those towns granted city status in 2000. House prices in Inverness have increased by 192% to £172,691 in the seven years since September 2000. The UK average house price has increased by 140% over the period. Newry has been the best performing "Jubilee" city - those granted city status to commemorate the Queen's Jubilee in 2002. House prices in Newry have increased by 157% in the past five years to £233,075. The UK average house price has increased by 76% over the same period.
Martin Ellis, chief economist at Halifax Estate Agents, commented: "House prices in cities tend to be higher than the average price in their region. The attraction of shopping and leisure facilities, as well as a short commute for workers means that there will always be demand to live in cities. Many cities have also benefited from urban regeneration programmes that have seen the wide scale re-development of old industrial areas and canal side warehouses into residential properties. The strong performance of smaller cities, in particular, highlights that homebuyers are looking for attractive places to live in which also offer good transport links, easy commuting and convenient shopping."
