A lot has changed with house buying behaviours since the pandemic yet one thing is for certain – when it comes to property prices, most of us are likely to keep a beady eye on house prices in our local area.
From those that bought a renovation project in the hope their home improvements pay off to those sitting tightly before downsizing to a smaller home for retirement. The end goal remains the same – when it comes to selling your property you want to leave in positive equity, not negative.
In this article, we take a look at two of the UK’s biggest housing market sources to find out where house prices have increased the most across the UK in 2022 and to find out where the most searched for areas to live are.
Halifax’s top 20 locations
Towns and cities with the strongest house price growth saw their average property value increase by more than £50,000 (+15.2%) over the last year (up to November 2022), according to new data from Halifax.
York saw the highest property price inflation of any town or city in England and Wales during 2022, growing by +23.1% (£69,648) over the course of the last year. Since March 2020, average house prices in the historic city have risen by +41.9% from £261,183 to £370,639 (£109,457).
Woking, with its good links to central London, saw the biggest increase of any town or city in cash terms in 2022. The cost of buying a home in the desirable commuter town leapt from £493,299 in 2021 to £586,925 in November 2022, an increase of £93,626 (+19.0%).
London no longer calling? While house prices in London have increased at a slower pace (+7.2%) than other parts of the UK, prices in the capital are still comfortably the most expensive in the country at £596,667. No London boroughs appeared in the top growth areas for year-on-year house price increases. The popular residential district of Islington saw a rise of only +0.4% over the year, among the lowest in the country. However, properties in the area still had a large average price tag of £712,843.
| Town | Region | Average House Price | Average House Price | 1 year change | 1 year change | £ Growth in Price since March 2020 | % Growth in Price since March 2020 | |
| 2021 | 2022 | £ | % | |||||
| York | Yorkshire and The Humber | £300,991 | £370,639 | £69,648 | 23.10% | £109,457 | 41.90% | |
| Woking | South East | £493,299 | £586,925 | £93,626 | 19.00% | £106,422 | 22.10% | |
| Swansea | Wales | £225,929 | £265,379 | £39,450 | 17.50% | £85,846 | 47.80% | |
| Chelmsford | East of England | £415,996 | £485,770 | £69,775 | 16.80% | £74,973 | 18.30% | |
| Kettering | East Midlands | £282,163 | £326,895 | £44,731 | 15.90% | £76,155 | 30.40% | |
| Derby | East Midlands | £239,538 | £277,491 | £37,953 | 15.80% | £59,393 | 27.20% | |
| Wellingborough | East Midlands | £265,899 | £306,985 | £41,087 | 15.50% | £67,639 | 28.30% | |
| Peterborough | East of England | £252,396 | £289,994 | £37,599 | 14.90% | £59,459 | 25.80% | |
| Bristol | South West | £343,263 | £394,126 | £50,864 | 14.80% | £74,619 | 23.40% | |
| Cambridge | East of England | £463,144 | £531,730 | £68,586 | 14.80% | £73,313 | 16.00% | |
| Brentwood | East of England | £466,329 | £533,327 | £66,998 | 14.40% | -£25,396 | -4.50% | |
| Bournemouth | South West | £319,589 | £365,148 | £45,559 | 14.30% | £75,925 | 26.30% | |
| Hove | South East | £460,946 | £526,201 | £65,255 | 14.20% | £121,325 | 30.00% | |
| Colchester | East of England | £330,795 | £377,003 | £46,208 | 14.00% | £77,864 | 26.00% | |
| Birmingham | West Midlands | £236,821 | £269,385 | £32,563 | 13.80% | £70,344 | 35.30% | |
| Milton Keynes | South East | £366,902 | £416,496 | £49,594 | 13.50% | £64,671 | 18.40% | |
| Newcastle Upon Tyne | North East | £230,519 | £260,675 | £30,157 | 13.10% | £48,321 | 22.80% | |
| Nottingham | East Midlands | £253,730 | £286,696 | £32,966 | 13.00% | £66,669 | 30.30% | |
| Southampton | South East | £280,135 | £316,286 | £36,151 | 12.90% | £49,346 | 18.50% | |
| Cheltenham | South West | £360,794 | £406,767 | £45,972 | 12.70% | £109,990 | 37.10% | |
| Top 20 average | £329,459 | £379,696 | £50,237 | 15.20% | £72,317 | 23.50% | ||
| Source: Halifax |
Kim Kinnaird, Mortgages Director, Halifax, said: “Overall 2022 was another year of rapid house price growth for most areas in the UK. And unlike many years in the past, the list isn’t dominated by towns and cities in the south east.
“Nowhere is that more the case than in the cathedral city of York, which saw the highest property price inflation across England and Wales this year, rising by over a fifth. While existing homeowners will welcome the increased value of their home, such a jump makes it much more challenging for those looking to step onto the property ladder or move into the city.
“While London still has some of the highest property prices in the country, it recorded comparatively modest house price inflation over the last 12 months. This is partly due to pandemic driven shifts in housing preferences as buyers sought bigger properties further from urban centres.
“We can see this clearly in commuter towns such as Woking, Chelmsford and Hove, which – with their more diverse range of properties perhaps offering better value – recorded much bigger increases over the last year.”
Rightmove’s most searched for areas
A key house-buying trend since the global pandemic has been the ‘race for space’ as people have re-evaluated what’s important to them and what type of property suits their everyday needs. Whether that’s moving to a bigger property or a home that has a garden, situated in a more rural location.
However, as more people have returned to a new normal with hybrid working or even back to full-time working in an office – the housing market has seen a shift from buyers looking to move to the countryside to several moving back to a city.
New data from the property portal website Rightmove reveals that London was the most searched for destination by buyers looking for their next home in 2022.
During the pandemic, more people were looking for their next home outside of cities, in the countryside or by the coast. In several months of 2021, Cornwall replaced London as the most searched for location on Rightmove.
Yet, this trend reversed in 2022, as buyer search behaviour returns towards more normal pre-pandemic patterns. Searches for London increased by 9% compared with last year, while searches for Cornwall dropped by 18%, and by 17% in Devon.
London has 36% more buyer searches than Cornwall at the end of the year, which is the biggest gap since 2019. This compares to last year when there was just a 3% gap in the number of searches between London and Cornwall.
The increase in searches for London alongside the decrease in searches for Cornwall & Devon indicates that the trend of looking out of the capital, and to the coast or countryside, may be behind us in 2023.
Most searched for areas 2022
| Rank | Area |
| 1 | London |
| 2 | Cornwall |
| 3 | Devon |
| 4 | Bristol |
| 5 | Glasgow |
| 6 | Manchester |
| 7 | Edinburgh |
| 8 | Sheffield |
| 9 | York |
| 10 | Cambridge |
Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s property expert says: “This year people searching for their next home have well and truly returned to the capital – we started to see the tide turning towards the end of last year, and throughout 2022 a lot of our trends in the market have started to head back towards where they were in 2019.”
Conclusion
This data is a tale of two halves. On one hand you have a number of cities and towns outside of London that have shown significant house price growth. On the other hand, London is still gaining the most traction for property searches. With house prices predicted to slow down in 2023 it could suggest that property sales in the capital begin to pick up again.
