Top property hotspots of 2018

Glasgow and Edinburgh have seen house prices rise faster than any other major UK town or city in 2018, according to our research. The two largest cities in Scotland, have both seen average house price growth of at least 9% this year.

Housesimple analysed Land Registry data, looking at average house growth in more than 100 major UK towns and cities since the start of 2018 to September 2018, which are the latest figures recorded by the Land Registry.

Property prices in Glasgow have increased 9.1% from £126,016 at the beginning of 2018 to £137,507 in September. Edinburgh has seen average house prices rise 9% from £242,807 to £264,745 during the same period. Newport, in Wales, completes the top three, with house prices up on average 8.6% in 2018. The city in south-west Wales has seen a mini property boom since it was announced late last year that the tolls on the Severn Bridge would be scrapped this month.

The top property hotspot in England is Wolverhampton, with average house prices up 7.9% in 2018, followed by Salford, in the north west of England which has seen house prices rise 7.4% this year.

Across the UK, average house prices have risen 3.6% in 2018, from £224,502 to £232,554. While, in London, despite price growth slowing across the capital in recent months, there are a number of boroughs that have still seen positive growth in 2018, with average property values in Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea up 10.1%.

Property Not-spots across the UK include Watford, where house prices have slumped 9% since the start of 2018, and the borough of the City of Westminster, where average prices are down 9.7% this year.

The following table shows the Top 20 towns and cities that have seen the largest house price gains so far this year according to the latest Land Registry data.

Town/City	Region	Average house price (£) – Start of 2018	Average house price (£) – Sept 2018	% rise in house prices since the start of 2018
Glasgow	Scotland	£126,016	£137,507	9.1
Edinburgh	Scotland	£242,807	£264,745	9.0
Newport	Wales	£165,082	£179,256	8.6
Wolverhampton	West Midlands	£143,961	£155,400	7.9
Salford	North West	£155,691	£167,217	7.4
Leicester	East Midlands	£162,827	£174,815	7.4
Derby	East Midlands	£151,835	£162,947	7.3
Dundee	Scotland	£118,723	£127,228	7.2
Stockport	North West	£211,659	£226,659	7.1
Sheffield	South Yorkshire	£156,980	£167,850	6.9
Peterborough	East	£184,055	£196,677	6.9
Guildford	South East	£436,336	£466,181	6.8
Worcester	West Midlands	£205,760	£219,610	6.7
Lincoln	East Midlands	£143,903	£153,585	6.7
Stirling	Scotland	£173,304	£184,277	6.3
Rugby	West Midlands	£227,179	£241,214	6.2
Coventry	West Midlands	£178,535	£189,534	6.2
Maidstone	South East	£290,215	£307,849	6.1
Huntingdon	East	£260,956	£276,711	6.0
Chichester	South East	£376,507	£399,165	6.0

The following table shows London boroughs that have seen the largest house price gains so far this year according to the latest Land Registry data.

London Borough	Average house price (£) – Start of 2018	Average house price (£) – Sept 2018	% rise in house prices since the start of 2018
Kensington and Chelsea	£1,360,361	£1,498,077	10.1
Brent	£494,486	£540,419	9.3
Richmond upon Thames	£650,826	£696,339	7.0
Newham	£349,082	£368,197	5.5
Ealing	£470,312	£494,459	5.1
Redbridge	£417,333	£437,658	4.9
Kingston upon Thames	£485,579	£506,550	4.3
Southwark	£484,655	£505,075	4.2
Bexley	£340,599	£351,052	3.1
Islington	£638,427	£656,392	2.8

Sam Mitchell, CEO of Housesimple.com comments: “There’s been a great deal of focus on the housing market cooling off in recent months, but it might surprise some people to know that our research shows that average house prices are actually higher than they were at the start of the year in more than 80% of major UK towns and cities.

“While low stock levels rather than a healthy level of transactions will be cited as the reason that house prices remain at the level they are, that would be doing a disservice to a property market that has proved impressively robust in the face of some pretty strong economic headwinds this year.

“We are now coming into a traditionally quiet period for property transactions, which was expected to be quieter as a result of the Brexit vote, due to take place today. Now it’s been postponed, we could a few more sellers and buyers taking the opportunity to progress and complete transactions before the New Year.”

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