Press Release: 00048

16 March 2007

Aberdeen is king of the castles

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

Aberdeen, the so-called "granite city", has featured in the Top Ten most favoured property locations for the last six months and was previously No.1 in August 2006. Aberdeen and the Grampian Highlands are described by the tourist board as Scotland's "castle and whisky country" - a combination that evidently attracts large numbers of visitors and rubs off on the local property market. Just 50 miles to the west is Balmoral Castle and its estate, holiday home to the Royal Family and also open to the public. Aberdeen's first class restaurants and vibrant nightlife, combined with a thriving cultural calendar and shops galore, these attractions help make Scotland's third largest city well worth the trip - or stay a little longer and make this your home too.

Brighton (2) has so many attractions it's difficult to know where to start. As a tourist destination in its own right, or as centre for touring the area, there are hundreds of hotels and guest houses. Day trippers are equally at home, whether sitting on the beach or strolling through the labyrinth of "lanes" with its unique shops. Brighton's restaurants, cafes and night clubs are legendary. Language students, business people and conference delegates - the list is endless. Within easy commuting distance of London, Brighton is a wonderful place to live, if you are working and especially if you are not.

Yet again, Newcastle upon Tyne (3) shows its metal as a fantastic city that so many people want to make their home, with the continuing investment in new and refurbished buildings in the city centre - taking advantage also of the latest cultural centres that have sprung up on the banks of the Tyne just across the river in Gateshead.

Even in the middle of winter (or maybe because of it) the lure of the seaside is still evident, with around half of all the locations featured in the Top 50 being on the coast. This is a consistent feature of the index that hardly varies from month to month. Given a choice, it seems that most people would prefer to live on or close to the open sea.

Moving Location Index (Towns) - February 2007

Rank	Town	County	Points
1	Aberdeen	Aberdeenshire	222
2	Brighton	Sussex	209
3	Newcastle upon Tyne	Tyne & Wear	153
4	Bath	Somerset	142
5	Eastbourne	Sussex	138
6	Shrewsbury	Shropshire	128
7	Inverness	Highland	118
8	Newquay	Cornwall	113
9	St Austell	Cornwall	107
10	Belfast	County Antrim	104
11	Lancaster	Lancashire	102
12	Jersey	Channel Islands	92
13	Isles of Scilly	Cornwall	90
14	Truro	Cornwall	86
15	Scarborough	Yorkshire	84
16	Torquay	Devon	81
17	Winchester	Hampshire	75
18	Hastings	Sussex	72
19	Skegness	Lincolnshire	72
20	Porthcawl	Bridgend	72
21	Exmouth	Devon	71
22	St Ives	Cornwall	70
23	Worcester	Worcestershire	69
24	Chester	Cheshire	69
25	Plymouth	Devon	68
26	Bournemouth	Dorset	64
27	Barnstaple	Devon	64
28	Oxford	Oxfordshire	62
29	Ayr	Ayrshire	62
30	Hereford	Herefordshire	61
31	Bridport	Dorset	61
32	Kingston upon Thames	Greater London	60
33	Bedford	Bedfordshire	59
34	Harrogate	Yorkshire	59
35	Dunfermline	Fife	58
36	Falmouth	Cornwall	56
37	Bognor Regis	Sussex	55
38	Fleetwood	Lancashire	54
39	Canterbury	Kent	52
40	Totnes	Devon	51
41	Battle	Sussex	51
42	Welshpool	Powys	50
43	Kirkintilloch	Dunbartonshire	50
44	Harlow	Essex	50
45	Ashington	Northumberland	49
46	Dundee	Angus	47
47	Arbroath	Angus	47
48	Weymouth	Dorset	44
49	Newcastle-under-Lyme	Staffordshire	43
50	Cleethorpes	Lincolnshire	43

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.