More than one third of seaside towns (41 out of 117) saw an increase of at least 10 per cent in their average house price in the past twelve months.
After Girvan, the next best performing seaside towns were the Scottish towns of Arbroath, up 30 per cent to £116,362 and Ardrossan, up 28 per cent to £103,184. Six of the ten best performing seaside towns in the past year were in Scotland.
In England, the best performing seaside town was St Mawes in Cornwall, with a 26 per cent price rise to £306,212. In Wales, the best performer was Colwyn Bay, up 12 per cent to £174,758.
Scottish seaside towns best performers over three years
Over the past three years, the seaside town with the biggest house price increase was Eyemouth, in the Scottish Borders, with prices up by 82 per cent to £155,278. Out of the ten largest increases over three years, the top nine were all in Scotland.
Seaham, in the North of England, was ranked 10th with a house price increase of 63 per cent over three years to an average price of £121,956. Twenty-four of the 117 seaside towns surveyed experienced a rise in average house prices of 50 per cent or more between March 2004 and March 2007.
The most expensive seaside town is Sandbanks in Dorset with an average price of £488,761 – one of the most expensive towns of any description in the UK. Padstow in Cornwall (£334,385) and Milford on Sea in Hampshire (£326,277) are the next most expensive seaside towns after Sandbanks. Nine of the ten most expensive seaside towns are in the South West.
The average seaside town trades at a premium of £5,298 (3 per cent) to the average house price in their county. The premium is largest in Sandbanks in Dorset (106 per cent), the Mumbles in Wales (92 per cent) and St Andrews in Fife (86 per cent). 24 seaside towns have a premium to the average house price in their county of at least 20 per cent.
There are sixteen seaside towns which trade at a discount of at least 20 per cent to the average house price in their county. The discount is largest in Kent with Margate at 30 per cent and Dover at 29 per cent. Seven of the sixteen towns trading at a 20 per cent discount are located in the South East of England, however there also towns with a discount of at least 20 per cent in the North, Yorkshire & the Humber and East Anglia.
Seaside towns in Sussex accounted for six of the ten smallest house price increases over the three years to March 2007. These towns include Newhaven and Littlehampton at 13 per cent, Eastbourne at 14 per cent and Peacehaven at 16 per cent. Sandbanks in Poole, the most expensive seaside town, has also seen one of the smallest house price increases over three years, up 15 per cent.
Nine of the ten most expensive seaside town postcode districts are in the South West
The most expensive postcode district is BH13 in Sandbanks (£488,761) followed by BH3 in Bournemouth (£353,720) and BH14 in Poole (£335,916).
Colin Kemp, Managing Director, Halifax Estate Agents, said: "Seaside towns have generally seen firm house price performance over the past year. They attract buyers looking for a lifestyle change, along with second homebuyers and buy-to-let investors.
“While many seaside towns trade at a premium to the house prices in surrounding towns, some opportunities still exist for home buyers, including coastal parts of Kent, Sussex and North Yorkshire."
