Yahoo Finance The UK's top 10 cities where property prices are soaring
Newport has the fastest rising house prices of Britain’s biggest towns and cities, with a booming property market in the city in southeast Wales.
New figures from Hometrack and Zoopla show property prices have risen 1.7% in the 20 largest cities across the UK in the year up to April 2019.
Glasgow boasted the fastest rising prices of the top 20 cities, but a wider index of 65 cities and larger towns saw Newport finish top with a remarkable 9% rise in prices over the past year.
The average Newport property costs £167,700.
Chris Beard, a filmmaker from Newport looking to get on the property ladder, 31, told Yahoo Finance UK: “Because house prices are so cheap, lots of professionals and families are moving out of Bristol to commute from Newport. It’s now free to drive across to Severn Bridge from Bristol as the tolls have been removed.
“There are lots of new developments in Newport, a few big tech companies here and new independent shops and restaurants popping up, so Newport’s starting to see a bit of its culture come back. The BBC have moved to Cardiff and Channel 4 are moving to Bristol too, so they’re obviously bringing in a lot of jobs.”
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The town of Hastings on England’s southeast coast had the second fastest-rising prices with a 6.4% increase. It has seen its property market grow and grow for several years, with prices now a staggering 42% higher than at the UK property market’s peak in 2007.
Other cities and major towns with gains of more than 5% over the past year are Swansea, Stoke, Rochdale, Wakefield and Glasgow.
The growth of many areas outside London contrasts strongly with the capital, which has seen more than a year of sluggish growth and even declines in prices.
London as a whole saw average prices down 0.5% over the year, and central London saw an even steeper drop of 1.6%.
Medway, Reading, Crawley, Cambridge and Ipswich also saw declines over the year.
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UK cities and towns where prices are rising fastest
Here are the top areas with the increase given for the year to April 2019:
Newport - 9%
Hastings - 6.4%
Swansea - 5.6%
Stoke - 5.5%
Rochdale - 5.3%
Wakefield - 5.1%
Glasgow - 5.1%
Leicester - 4.9%
Wigan - 4.9%
Liverpool - 4.9%
