Fast rising property prices have both pros and cons for investors. The cons, fairly obviously, are that it can be difficult to buy into a fast rising market. But there can be many pros – including the opportunity to turn a fast profit from development or flipping and, potentially, a very active letting market to buy into.
To help investors locate the latest price rise hotspots (or even possibly avoid them), here are the ten locations within England and Wales which currently have the fastest rising annual property prices. Our league table uses the latest Land Registry data, based on sales up to March 2016.
Our thoughts. Notice how the fastest rising property price areas are undeniably – with the exception of Bristol and Merthyr Tydfil (the latter possibly due a low sales volume anomaly) – south east commuter belt centric. Interestingly though, they’re far from being the most expensive parts of the south east region …. in fact several of them are some of the cheapest.
Bracknell Forest
Annual property price rise: 14.8%
Current average property price in Bracknell Forest: £296,258
Bristol
Annual property price rise: 14.3%
Current average property price in Bristol: £227,583
Central Bedfordshire
Annual property price rise: 13.9%
Current average property price in Central Bedfordshire: £225,189
Luton
Annual property price rise: 19.4%
Current average property price in Luton: £173,675
Merthyr Tydfil
Annual property price rise: 5.9%
Current average property price in Merthyr Tydfil: £74,468
Reading
Annual property price rise: 15%
Current average property price in Reading: £271,989
Slough
Annual property price rise: 22.1%
Current average property price in Slough: £244,747
Thurrock
Annual property price rise: 18.8%
Current average property price in Thurrock: £197,816
West Berkshire
Annual property price rise: 15.1%
Current average property price in West Berkshire: £298,069
Wokingham
Annual property price rise: 14.4%
Current average property price in Wokingham: £379,378
If you’d like to find out which parts of England and Wales have the cheapest property prices, take a look at this Property Insider report:
Top 15 Cheap Property Investment Locations England & Wales, May 2016 Report
