Over the past decade, average house prices in the ‘new’ university towns (those established since 1960) have increased by 70 per cent, from £91,612 to £155,953, according to new research by Lloyds TSB.
Average house price growth in the more traditional, older university towns rose by a more modest 64 per cent, on average. Both new and old university towns recorded higher average price increases than the 62 per cent increase across the UK as a whole. More than two-thirds of all university towns recorded house price increases in excess of the UK average1.
Many new universities were formed when polytechnics converted to university status after 1992. The change in status enabled them to award their own degrees and thereby attract more students.
House prices have more than doubled in seven of these new university towns over the last decade. Bangor in Wales recorded the biggest increase (129 per cent), followed by Carlisle (110 per cent), Sunderland (108 per cent) and Dundee (107 per cent). Pontypridd – home to University of Glamorgan – (106 per cent), Bradford (105 per cent) and Plymouth (102 per cent) were the others where prices more than doubled.
The most expensive new university town – and also the most expensive of all university towns – is Winchester with an average house price of £364,667, followed by Kingston-upon-Thames (£360,331) and Buckingham (£330,795). The least expensive are Salford (£106,685), Paisley (£106,967) and Bradford (£108,282).
Nitesh Patel, housing economist at Lloyds TSB, commented: “Growing student numbers are likely to have had a positive impact on house prices in university towns over the past decade. This effect has been heightened in the newer university towns where prices have, on average, risen more rapidly than in the towns that host the more established universities. Increased student demand for accommodation is also likely to have added to upward pressures on rental values in university towns, increasing their attractiveness to landlords.”
