House price growth in rural areas ‘has outperformed urban locations’, new analysis shows

Property values in areas which are mainly rural have risen by 29 per cent over the past five years, while those in predominantly urban areas have increased by 18 per cent, Nationwide Building Society said.

The coronavirus pandemic and more flexible working opportunities have prompted some people to relocate to more rural areas in recent years.

In general, rural detached properties have seen the strongest rates of price growth, while urban flats have recorded the weakest price increases, according to Nationwide.

Between December 2016 and December 2021, rural detached properties increased in price by 32 per cent on average, while urban flats typically added 6 per cent on to their value.

Some areas closely associated with tourism, including parts of Devon, South Wales, the Cotswolds and the Broads have seen particularly big price jumps recently, the report said.

This may suggest that demand may be being driven by those buying holiday or second homes.

Eastleigh – average price £339,946 and a 18 per cent increase and East Hampshire, with a £451,320 increase and a 17 per cent rise ranked highly in the list of the top performing local authority areas for house price growth across Britain in 2021, according to Nationwide Building Society, and their urban/rural classifications.

Andrew Harvey, a senior economist at Nationwide, said: ‘ONS data suggests that the rate of second home ownership is significantly above average in areas such as South Hams, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion, areas which are amongst those seeing the fastest rates of growth.’