Property Hotspots

New industry data has uncovered this year’s property price hotspots and revealed areas where house prices have risen by a whopping 31%, reports Abode2

This year, every region across Great Britain has hit record asking prices for homes, but it’s Mountain Ash, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales that has snagged this year’s title as the UK’s property price hotspot, with average asking prices in the area jumping by 31%.

The average price for a home in Mountain Ash, a small town in the Cynon Valley of Wales with a population of approximately 11,500 is £137,220, compared to £104,431 a year ago.

Porth, which is also in the borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in Wales, was second on this year’s price hotspot list, with asking price rises of 26 per cent while Kirkby in Liverpool was third with price rises of 21%.

Wales topped the tables as this year’s regional price hotspot with average asking prices up 10.5% compared to last year. The South West secured second place in the regional table with house price rises of 9.6% while the South East came a close third with rises of 9.1%.

Further highlighting the popularity of properties in areas of Wales this year, Holyhead has topped the list of areas that have seen the biggest jump in sales agreed with the number of sales agreed rising by 58% compared to last year. In fact, four of the top ten areas are in Wales (Holyhead (+58%), Porth, Rhondda Cynon Taff (+40%), Liswerry (+39%), Newport & Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent (+37%).

When it comes to speed in securing a sale, Dalgety Bay, in Fife, Scotland is this year’s quickest market – with homes in the area finding a buyer in an average of two weeks. The top ten was predominantly filled by locations in Scotland, however, this is largely due to Scotland’s sales process which is completely different to that offered in England and Wales.

A combination of sustained high demand, and shortage of properties for sale this year, has meant competition between buyers for the properties available has risen by more than a third during 2021 (36%).

The analytics expert at Rightmove, the property portal that conducted this latest research predicts that this demand is set to continue to be high into 2022, and with every region hitting record price growth this year and seven in ten homes for sale on the portal finding a buyer, suggests it may signal an opportunity for those considering a move in the new year to get the most for their property.