Bargain towns with surging property prices

TOWNS offering bargain-basement properties have seen the highest growth in house prices over the past year, figures show.

Port Talbot in South Wales was identified by property website Zoopla as 2019’s UK top spot.

House prices there rose by 7.5 per cent to reach £122,074. The town is best known for its huge steelworks and as the birthplace of actor Michael Sheen.

Staying in Wales, Cwmbran, in the southeast of the country, was in second place, with property values increasing by 6.9 per cent to an average of £168,212.

Leigh in Lancashire was identified as Britain’s third property hotspot of 2019, with values increasing by 6.3 per cent to reach £127,148 on average.

In fact, the whole of North-west England saw relatively strong house price growth with values increasing by 3.2 per cent over the past year to £190,645 on average.

Across Britain, homes added £12 per day on average on to their value during 2019, according to the research.

In some parts of the country, property values have risen by an average of nearly £40 every day over the past year – but in some others around £20 per day has been knocked off their value.

The total value of Britain’s housing market rose by £124billion across 2019 – a rise of 1.6 per cent – to reach about £7.8trillion, Zoopla said.

Across Britain, the average property value was estimated at £296,785. In Wales, values rose by an average of 3.9 per cent and in Scotland the figure was 2.2 per cent. England lagged behind at 1.5 per cent. The English region with the slowest house price growth was the South East (0.6 per cent).

Laura Howard of Zoopla said: ‘Affordability levels remain attractive in many areas outside southern England. Rising employment and low mortgage rates have led to improving values.’