Seaside towns claim premium prices

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by Brian Turner

A survey by Halifax has found that seaside properties typically cost 3% more over inland prices - adding over £5,000 to a seaside property value by average house prices.

The group said house prices in seaside towns averaged £187,128, compared with an average price of £181,830 across counties which border the sea.

Of the 117 seaside towns covered, 24 have a price in excess of 20% of the county average, with properties in Sandbanks, Dorset, costing 106% the country average; Mumbles, Wales at 92%; and St Andrews, Fife at 86%.

90% of the most expensive seaside towns are located in the south-west of England, with property in Padstow, Cornwall, the highest priced, averaging £334,385.

Scotland

Meanwhile, research by The Bank of Scotland into quality of life and house prices found that Scottish seaside towns have been the best performing in the UK for property performance, with six of the ten biggest price rises over the past year.

Over the past three years, Scottish seaside towns took the top nine positions in the top ten for price increases.

Girvan in Ayrshire was the best performing seaside town across Britain over the past year with the average rises of 41% to £131,512 at March 2007.

However, while the Bank of Scotland study covered various factors such as labour market, the housing market, the environment, education and health, they may not have covered simpler factors such as beach quality.

For example, Kirkcaldy was rated 5th in the table by the Bank of Scotland, even though the town’s main beach fails to pass basic EU water quality tests.