The Great British seaside resort has never been more popular as a destination for home buyers. Coastal towns have long been popular as retirement hotspots, but more and more are proving the fashionable choice for buyers across all age groups.
However, some are much more affordable to buy in than others, as the annual study of the UK's most expensive seaside towns from the Halifax proves.
The millionaire paradise of Sandbanks in Dorset retains its No.1 spot as the priciest hotspot in Britain with average houses prices of £664,051. Buy here in what has been dubbed Britain's Palm Springs and you'll count football men Harry Redknapp and Graeme Souness among your neighbours as well as some of the UK's super-rich.
The Devon resort of Salcombe is second on the list with an average price of £617,743, followed by Padstow in Cornwall (£443,396). Nine of the 10 most expensive seaside towns are on the south coast of England with only Aldeburgh in East Anglia breaking the south's dominance.
High demand for a room with a sea view
Martin Ellis, the Halifax's housing economist, said: "Seaside towns are extremely popular places to live. Being by the seaside does come at a price, with the marked increase in house prices reflecting the demand for rooms with a 'sea' view."
The Halifax uses house price data from the Land Registry and the Registers of Scotland to compile its annual study of seaside property prices.
Outside of the top 10, the other most expensive and hence desirable seaside destinations include Berwick and St Andrews on the east coast of Scotland, and Mumbles in South Wales.
If you're interested in more affordable seaside living, you'll probably have to look north of the border. There, according to the Halifax research, are nine of the 10 least expensive seaside towns in the UK, with Port Bannatyne on the island of Bute the cheapest of the lot - an average property there is just £71,550 (or nine times less than the average price on Sandbanks). All houses in the cheapest top 10 have an average price below £100,000.
Newbiggin by the Sea in Northumberland is the only English coastal town that features in the top 10 cheapest, which is dominated by seaside towns on Scotland's west coast.
A love affair with the coast
Britons have long enjoyed a love affair with the seaside, unsurprisingly for an island nation. But in recent times property prices have been pushed up by second-home owners and holiday let specialists snapping up houses for the holiday market. That means local people have often been priced out of buying homes where they have grown up or worked, a situation that led the Cornish town of St Ives to introduce a ban on new-builds being used as second homes last year.
An increase on stamp duty on second homes was also introduced nationally in 2016, another measure designed to suppress the second-home market and allow local people to buy their principal homes in seaside towns.
If you do like to be beside the seaside, then contact Homeward Legal now on or click here for an immediate, no-obligation quote to get your conveyancing process underway. With our no-move, no-fee guarantee, you can be assured you won't be out of pocket if your transaction does not complete for any reason. And with our professional, expert team on your side, you'll be feeling the sand beneath your toes before the summer is out.