Britons ‘pay premium for spa town’ homes (excerpt from the Bath Property Weekly)
Britons are prepared to pay a significant premium to live in a spa town, with Bath among the highest, research has indicated.
Properties in spa towns in England and Wales cost an average of 16% or £38,000 more than homes across the wider county in which they are in, according to Lloyds TSB. The group said the higher prices people were prepared to pay to live in a spa town was likely to reflect the large number of period homes in these towns, as well as the high quality of life people associate with them.
Properties in Boston Spa command the biggest premium, costing nearly twice as much (98%) as homes across the rest of West Yorkshire, while house prices in Ilkley, also in West Yorkshire, are 97% higher than across the rest of the county.
People can expect to pay 42% more for a house in Bath than in the surrounding area, while homes in Matlock are 37% more expensive than the average for Derbyshire, and those in Tunbridge Wells cost 36% more than across the rest of Kent.
There are only three spa towns in which prices are lower than across the county they are in, with property prices in Boston 15% below the average for Lincolnshire, while they are 7% lower in Llandrindod Wells than across Powys, and house prices in Epsom are 5% lower than the average for Surrey as a whole.
Nitesh Patel, housing economist at Lloyds TSB, said: ‘Spa towns tend to have a larger stock of period architecture, such as Georgian or Regency, which are often larger and commend higher prices.’
‘Spa towns are often thought of as having a high quality of life, including excellent schools, lower crime rates, and lesser traffic volumes, all of which drive desirability in these areas and ramp up value.’
House prices have at least doubled in 15 spa towns during the past decade, with Builth Wells in Powys seeing the biggest jump at 153%, followed by Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire at 143% and Boston Spa at 141%.
Epsom is the most expensive spa town in which to live, with prices averaging £357,837, while they are only slightly cheaper in Tunbridge Wells and Bath at £337,144 and £324,250 respectively. Boston is the cheapest spa town in which to buy a home, with property values averaging £132,912, followed by Llandrindod Wells at £168,428.
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