Yahoo Finance House prices double in crime-ridden English seaside town
House prices in the seaside town of Margate have more than doubled in the last decade despite an alarmingly high crime rate, analysis shows.
The average property in the Kent town cost £309,049 in 2023, an increase of 104pc from 2013, when the average price was £151,196, according to analysis of Land Registry data by Lloyds bank.
The jump was the largest of any coastal town in Britain, with Amlwch and Menai Bridge in Wales in second and third place respectively.
The increase comes despite Margate having a crime rate of 157 incidents per 1,000 people in 2023 – 79pc higher than the national crime rate in England and Wales.
At the other end of the spectrum is the Devon town of Salcombe, where the average price has dropped from £1.2m in 2022 to £970,567. Sandbanks, which previously held the top spot, boasted an average house price of £957,739 in 2023.
Nine of the top ten most expensive coastal towns are in the South West, with the only exception being Lymington, in Hampshire, where the average home costs £648,881.
All of the ten cheapest coastal locations were in Scotland, with Rothesay offering an average price of £101,477, while a home in Greenock would set buyers back £107,111.
Many Britons dream of living by the sea, but the average coastal home now costs £293,710 – more than £10,000 higher than the UK February 2024 average of £281,000.
There has been concern that high levels of second home ownership in some coastal areas have made properties too expensive for locals, pushing them out of the areas in which they grew up.
The cost of living within touching distance of the water has increased by 48pc in the last ten years, the Land Registry data revealed. But prices slowed between 2022 and 2023, dropping by 4pc, as mortgage rates and councils cracking down on second home ownership began to bite.
In August 2022, Leeds Building Society stopped issuing mortgages to second homeowners nationwide as part of a policy to free up homes for first time buyers.
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 gave English councils the power to levy a council tax premium of 100pc on second homes from April 2025. The Telegraph understands that as many as one in four English councils are planning to use the new powers.
Cornwall Council has agreed to add the premium at its full rate to holiday homes from 2025. East Devon District Council, which counts more than 2,760 properties as second homes, will levy a premium of 100pc from next April.
The town of Budleigh Salterton, which is in the district, comes ninth on the list of the most expensive coastal towns, with an average price of £508,139.
Amanda Bryden, head of mortgages at Lloyds Bank said: “Our data shows the most sought-after coastal locations in the country can attract average price tags of close to a million pounds – with in demand properties often going for much more.”
But Ms Bryden said that not all coastal areas are “idyllic” resorts, adding: “There are specific socio-economic factors, often as a result of changing tourism habits, or the decline of other local industries, which can lead to higher levels of deprivation.”
