University towns see strong house price gains

The 7th annual Halifax University Town House Price Review - tracking house price movements in 79 university towns across the UK - points to strong house price gains. Indeed, 20 university towns recorded an increase in house prices of 20% or more over the past year, close to double the nationwide increase of 11%.

Best performing university town was Belfast, home of Queen's University, with a 47% rise in its average house price over the year to June 2007. University towns, on average, saw an increase in house prices of 14% over the year, comfortably outpacing the UK average.

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The top 20 ranked university towns trade at a premium of £25,852 (or 11%) to the average house price in their county. And the top ranked university town, Oxford, has an average house price of £328,241, a premium of £22,219 (or 7%), to the average house price in Oxfordshire. Cambridge, ranked second, has an average house price of £287,536, a premium of £76,288 (or 36%) to the average house price in Cambridgeshire.

Seven university towns have seen at least a 50% increase in average house prices over the past three years, double the UK average. Belfast was again the best performer with a 97% increase in its average price over the three years to June 2007. The next two best performers were in Scotland - Aberdeen (75%), and Dundee (64%) - followed by Tower Hamlets (61%) in London, home of East London University.

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Across all university towns surveyed the average increase in house prices over the past three years was 26%. This was slightly higher than the average increase across the UK as a whole over the period (25%).

The average rise in property prices across the top 20 ranked university cities and towns over the past year was 12%. This was slightly above the average for the UK as a whole of 11%. Lambeth, home of Kings College, London, recorded the highest property price growth of any university area over the year to June 2007 (28%).

On the other hand, Nottingham is the least expensive university town in the top 20, with an average house price of £155,072. Lancaster is the next least expensive with an average house price of £155,668.

17 August 2007 © Moneyextra.com

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