Revealed: The richest and poorest property markets in the UK

Research by Nested, the modern estate agent, reveals that £250bn worth of property has been sold in the UK in the last 12 months with the richest local market situated north of the Scottish border. 

Nested has analysed the total volume and combined value of property sales in the UK over the last 12 months to discover how the market has reacted to recent economic turmoil and reveal where the nation’s richest local markets are found. 

Over the past year, 869,560 homes have been sold with a combined value of £249.7bn.

Compared to the 12 months prior, this is a drop in volume of -23.5%, leading to a -16.3% decline in cumulative value. This is despite a 9.5% house price increase over the same period. 

Least valuable pockets

The most valuable local property market over the last 12 months is Edinburgh, where 11,295 sales have completed to the tune of £3.7bn.

Edinburgh is followed by Buckinghamshire where sales total £3.4bn, along with Wandworth, South London, where £3bn worth of homes have been sold over the last year.

In Yorkshire, sales over the last 12 months have totalled £2.5bn, while Kensington & Chelsea (£2.5bn), Somerset (£2.5bn), Cornwall (£2.5bn), Belfast (£2.4bn), Birmingham (£2.35bn), and Wiltshire (£2.3bn) all rank among the UK’s richest housing markets. 

Tougher market

At the other end of the spectrum, Merthyr Tydfil and Blaenau Gwent in Wales are the least valuable pockets of the property market across the UK mainland, with just £109.5m and £122m worth of property sold over the last year. 

Perhaps surprisingly, the City of London ranks third, where despite an average house price of £877,562, just £123.7m of property has been sold in the last year.

Alice Bullard, Managing Director at Nested, the modern estate agent, said: “Despite the fact that the heat has well and truly faded from the pandemic property market boom, there has still been a staggering sum of property transacted over the last 12 months, to the tune of almost £250 billion. 

This demonstrates that despite the tougher market conditions that have materialised, buyers are still acting with intent and homes are selling, albeit at a slower rate and a slightly lower price than we’ve seen over previous months. 

Of course, the fragmented nature of the UK property market means that some areas are continuing to see the market move at speed and, in the likes of Edinburgh and Buckinghamshire, the market remains very hot indeed.”

Data tables

Data tables and sources can be viewed online, here.