As the summer days stretch to their longest point of the year, it’s easy to fantasise about alternate lifestyles. Perhaps a cabin in the woods? A mountaintop bothy? Or, popular amongst Londoners, a home by the sea.
For those looking to make those seaside dreams a reality, new data from Rightmove has revealed the UK’s best value coastal locations for buyers and renters alike.
For buyers, Saltcoats, Ayrshire, is the cheapest place to purchase a property. At the Scottish holiday resort, the average asking price for a home is £113,395 – six times less than the average property in London (£685,241).
Behind Saltcoats is nearby Girvan, also in Ayrshire, where properties cost an average of £121,269. In Blackpool, the average asking price is £147,244.
For renters, on the other hand, Skegness represents the best value for money, with properties having an average asking rent of £659 per month. In Greater London, this is £2,501pcm.
Fleetwood, Lancashire, is the second-cheapest seaside location for renters, with the average asking rent at £685. Property prices are also among the lowest in Fleetwood, at £154,560.
Best value seaside locations for buyers
Town |
Average asking price |
|---|---|
Saltcoats, Ayrshire |
£113,395 |
Girvan, Ayrshire |
£121,269 |
Blackpool, Lancashire |
£147,244 |
Fleetwood, Lancashire |
£154,560 |
South Shields, Tyne And Wear |
£162,261 |
Best value seaside locations for renters
Town |
Average asking rent (pcm) |
|---|---|
Skegness, Lincolnshire |
£659 |
Fleetwood, Lancashire |
£685 |
South Shields, Tyne And Wear |
£702 |
Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire |
£713 |
Whitehaven, Cumbria |
£719 |
The UK’s most expensive seaside towns
There is a significant disparity between Britain’s seaside towns, some of which represent the most deprived areas in the UK, and others of which are among the most affluent.
The most expensive towns for buyers and renters alike are all concentrated on the south coast of England, particularly Dorset and Hampshire.
Sandbanks in Dorset is the most expensive coastal town in the UK, with an average asking price of £2,028,948. Canford Cliffs, also in Dorset, is the second most expensive (£1,219,804), followed by Milford-on-Sea in Hampshire (£764,859), Barton-on-sea, Hampshire (£617,793) and Padstow in Cornwall (£616,578).
Sandbanks and Canford Cliffs are also the most expensive locations for renters, with average asking rents of £2,732pcm and £2,568pcm respectively. Shoreham-by-sea, West Sussex, is third (£1,871), followed by Brighton, East Sussex (£1,870) and Poole, Dorset (£1,678).
Most in-demand areas
Freed from the constraints of office-based work, more people are considering a move to the coast. As Rightmove’s Tim Bannister puts it: “The significant increase in interest for coastal areas during the pandemic continues to influence many buyer and renter choices for where to live today, particularly with flexible working further away from traditional cities now more of an option for many people.”
The UK’s best value locations are not necessarily the cheapest, however. Rightmove’s data shows that the south coast is most popular for people moving home, with Bournemouth most in-demand for buyers, and Southampton favoured by renters.
Areas like Sandown in the Isle of Wight are rising in popularity amongst buyers, with searches for homes for sale up by 34 per cent on last year. In Preston, Devon, searches also jumped by 20 per cent, as well as Gourock, Renfrewshire, where searches increased by 13 per cent.
For renters, on the other hand, Scarborough in North Yorkshire has seen a surge of interest, with searches for homes for rent up by 39% on last year. Saltburn-by-the-sea in Cleveland is second, with searches up by 33%, and Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex is third, up by 30 per cent.
