Mansion Global

Price Growth in Regional U.K. Cities Outpacing London

Postcodes in cities like Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow logged the highest price increases

Save

Birmingham, U.K.

Olaf Protze/Getty Images
Birmingham, U.K.
Olaf Protze/Getty Images

Postcodes in regional U.K. cities like Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow have logged the biggest price increases in the past year, leaving London trailing behind, according to Barclays Postcode Property Index released Tuesday.

The index shows that across the U.K., individual postcodes are bucking the national housing market trend, which in September 2017 recorded just a 0.4% increase, according to the index.

More:English Country House With Musical Connections Heads to Auction

Birmingham’s B16 postcode ranked No. 1 as the average house price rose in July 2017 to £171,498 (US$226,791) from last year’s £147,121 (US$194,582), a 17% price bump, according to the index, which identified the most thriving postcodes in the U.K.’s top 20 cities. The postcode covers Ladywood, an inner-city district next to central Birmingham. The city as a whole saw average price growth of 5%.

Edinburgh’s EH2 postcode—an area of the capital to the east of the city center that holds the Scottish Parliament Building and Palace of Holyroodhouse, the official residence of Queen Elizabeth in Scotland—saw price growth of 14% as house prices jumped to £372,592 (US$492,721) from £325,595 (US$430,571).

Prices in Glasgow’s G3 rose 14%, too. The postcode, which includes Finnieston, an area of the city that last year topped a list in The Times of London of the hippest places in Britain, saw house prices reach an average of £183,298 (US$242,665) in July from £161,454 (US$213,539) at the same time last year.

More:A Stand-Alone London Townhouse With Extra Privacy

London’s fastest growing market, meanwhile, is E5, the Clapton district in east London, which saw a price increase of 5% as house prices reached £541,800 (US$716,484). The city saw a total average price increase of 2%.

Job growth and affordability are seen as two of the primary causes for the boost in demand—and in turn, the increase in prices—for housing in regional cities, the index said.

"It is fascinating to see the individual postcodes where property prices are growing at a very fast pace, particularly when they are significantly outstripping the city’s average growth," said Craig Calder, director of Barclays mortgages in the index. "It demonstrates how changeable the property market currently is, not just around the U.K. but within each city."