Are you feeling the Londo

As the capital’s housing bubble expands across many parts of the country, Caroline McGhie tracks its progress and discovers where property prices are rising fastest

In the debate about the housing bubble, many questions are being asked. Is this a boom or a recovery? Is it opening a chasm between rich and poor, old and young? For people outside the capital, however, the biggest questions are: When will the London effect reach us? Where is the ripple now? It is never easy to freeze-frame trends in property transactions or house prices, but Savills Research has attempted to do so by analysing Land Registry figures for local authorities in England and Wales. Price rises can be detected in six waves rippling out from the capital, with the weakest in the North and North East. But the recovery has also leapfrogged to particular cities, including Bath, Bristol, York and Manchester. Up 25 per cent and above since the 2009 trough: central London, Brighton and Hove, Windsor, Maidenhead, Surrey Hold on to your assets. Prices in areas of central London such as Kensington and Chelsea have soared by 76 per cent, Hammersmith and Fulham by 73 per cent and Westminster by 72 per cent, streaking ahead of the rest of the capital. High prices have bled out to Windsor, Maidenhead, Surrey, and Brighton and Hove, where prices have risen by 31 per cent. “Sellers are excited about what the future holds and are standing firm on price,” says Tina Templeman of Mishon Mackay. “We are definitely seeing the London effect. In the first few months of the year 21 per cent of our buyers were from the capital.” She is selling a three-bedroom mid-terrace in Kemptown at £375,000. “Two years ago it would have cost £280,000.” Up 20-25 per cent: Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Bristol, Bath and north-east Somerset This second ripple takes in Hertfordshire and the country north of Oxford up towards the Midlands. In Oxford, Giles Lawton of Savills reckons the market started to breathe more easily last autumn. Houses which didn’t sell last year have been put back on the market recently and have had several buyers chasing them. This wave leapfrogs most of the western Cotswolds and eddies around Bath and Somerset. “Bath runs about six months behind London historically,” says David Mackenzie of Carter Jonas. “Around 40 per cent of buyers are from London now. People come thinking they can take advantage of a price gap, but then realise that actually they have to pay The newcomer is Southend, which began to motor over a year ago. The Halifax found it was the fastest growing area in the country. It is awash with inward investment, highly commutable and pepped up by the revamped airport. “This is growth off a lower base