Revealed: the most and least expensive neighbourhoods to buy in Portsmouth in 2022

The UK property market has had a turbulent few years – with a boom in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, followed by a slowdown amid rising interest rates and inflation.

New figures from the Office for National Statistics show where properties are likely to set you back the most in Portsmouth, and where you could snap up a bargain.

The Drayton and Farlington neighbourhood was the city’s priciest, with a median value of £367,500 among the 164 sales in the area last calendar year.

The next most expensive were the Cosham and St Thomas areas, which had a median price of £295,000.

The Charles Dickens neighbourhood saw the lowest house prices, with buyers paying an average of £193,500 across 64 sales last year.

This was followed by Nelson and Fratton, where buyers spent £223,750 and £225,000 respectively.

Across the country, property sales have slowed significantly in the past year.

Richard Donnell, executive director of research at the property search website Zoopla, said: ‘The increase in mortgage rates is having a bigger impact on the number of sales rather than house prices so far.’

Recent research by the company suggests sellers are shaving off more than 5% of the original asking price to achieve a sale.

‘There are big regional variations with market activity holding up better in Scotland, the North East and London while sales have increased more slowly in England regions across the south of England, Mr Donnell added.

‘House prices are starting to post small falls in higher value markets where average values are over £400,000 – in more affordable markets prices are still rising year on year, albeit at much slower rates than a year ago.’

There were 700,000 sales across England and Wales in the year to December 2022 – down from a recent peak of more than 1.1 million in the year to September 2021.

Overall, house prices have remained steady, with a median price of £280,000 last year – a £5,000 increase on the year before.

In Portsmouth, the average house cost £260,000 in 2022 – up from £237,500 a year before.

The number of properties sold dropped, from 3,302 in 2021 to 2,544.

The north south divide is still glaringly obvious.

Up in Kingston-upon-Hull, the city’s Kingswood neighbourhood was the priciest, with a median value of £187,000 among the 141 sales.

The St Andrew's and Docklands neighbourhood saw the lowest house prices, £82,500 across 144 sales.

In Middlesbrough, the North Ormesby neighbourhood’s average was even lower – just £59,260 across 58 sales.