Zoopla recently carried out a survey that revealed Southwold and Aldeburgh were in the top three of seaside towns in the UK with the highest median property values. Zoopla, a property website, had been gathering data for 12 months as it sought to find out which were the weakest and strongest performing coast towns around Britain.
With its highest average property values peaking at £517,517, Aldeburgh was found to be number two on the list while Southwold came in at number three with its average price reaching £455,983. Number one on the list with average property values that reached £635,435 was the town of Salcombe, Devon.
Director for Residential Sales at Aldeburgh’s Flick and Son, Harry Wass stated that the location of Saxmundham and Aldeburgh is what led to the average property values being as high as they were. According to the director, the locations were appealing for retirees and people looking to own a second home because they were close to beaches that were properly managed and clean the town themselves also had high streets that were full of interesting characters and quite a number of local businesses. He also added that those who are locals in these towns may have to look for property in places that are more affordable in case an increase in demand pushed the house prices beyond their means. But Wass also added that it is likely the figures have also been skewed by a few expensive sales since not many transactions take place in any given year. He gave an example of Stone House, which their company recently sold after being marketed for £2,750,000 and he stated that a single home going for a price like that had a significant effect on the final figures and could skew the average.
Zoopla also compiled a list of properties with the highest price increase from last year and three towns in Essex made it into the top ten. Southend-on-Sea came in at number 10 with a 4.89% increase. This pushed the average property values to £218,125. At number 7 with a 5.88% increase was Clacton-on-Sea. The average property price was also £218,125. The highest performer from Essex was Walton-on-the-Naze which came in at number two after it registered a 9.43% increase that pushed the average property prices to £231,410.