St Albans has recorded the strongest house price growth in Britain over the past year, with average property values rising by 24% to £479,000, according to Nationwide Building Society. The historic Hertfordshire commuter town now leads the lender's table of best-performing regional towns and cities, outpacing London where prices increased by 21-22%.
Several London boroughs, however, saw even steeper rises. Camden experienced a 42% annual surge, pushing the average home price to £884,103. Westminster remains the most expensive borough at £984,075, while Kensington and Chelsea and the City of London were excluded from the index due to low sample sizes. The cheapest London borough is Barking and Dagenham, where the average property costs £239,348.
Belfast and Cambridge each recorded 21% annual price growth, followed by Reading at 18%. At the other end of the scale, Newcastle was the worst-performing city with just 4% growth, bringing average prices to £182,506. Coventry and Leicester saw increases of 5% and 6% respectively. In Greater Manchester, property values rose 11% on average, though Manchester city itself saw only 7% growth.
Some areas experienced minimal or no price rises. Cheltenham saw a modest 3% increase, while north Devon, including Barnstaple and Ilfracombe, recorded zero growth over the past year.
