Sellers benefiting from university housing

Posted: 07 Oct 2008 14:14:40 GMT

People selling property in university towns are doing better than those operating in other areas.

That is the headline finding of research from Halifax, which indicates that those wishing to sell their homes in 35 of 64 university towns are benefiting from prices that are higher than the national average.

In fact, the top 55 per cent of the UK's university towns were found to enjoy an average house price premium of £20,335 compared to the rest of their counties.

This is nowhere more so than in Winchester, where average house prices exceed those in other parts of Hampshire by as much as £114,489.

"The majority of the university towns we have surveyed have an average house price higher than the average for their county," said Martin Ellis, chief economist at Halifax.

In August, Halifax published a report suggesting that 23 British university towns have seen house price rises of more than 50 per cent over the last ten years.

The ten most expensive uni towns were all in the south-east, Guildford leading the way with average property values of £363,503.

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