A village in Cumbria has been rated as the best place for families to buy property and put down roots, a report by Family Investments has claimed.
The savings provider’s 17-page report Family Hotspots Report 2014 indicated a shift in the top 20 locations for families to live, towards the Midlands and the North of England, citing affordability as one of the main reasons for people to move outside of London and the south east.
In 2013, nine of the top 20 postcodes for families were in the Midlands and the north of England, but this has risen to 12 this year.
The hotspots scored strong on financial criteria, such as the proliferation of affordable family-sized housing.
The top place went to the village of St Bees, just outside the Lake District in Cumbria, where the price of an average two-bedroom property in the village was £138,930 compared to the national average of £185,292.
The report was compiled by Calena Analytics, which provides property market analysis and data to the government, mortgage lenders and advisers.
Other new entries in the Midlands and the North included other locations in Cumbria and around the Ribble Valley in Lancashire, as well as a strong showing for small market towns on the M6 corridor between Birmingham and Manchester.
In the South, entries in the top 20 were clustered around the M4 and M40 corridors near Reading and Oxford.
Several members of last year’s top 20 hotspots returned this year, including three in Berkshire – Wokingham, Crowthorne and Woodley – Longridge in Lancashire and Church Crookham in Hampshire.
Family Investments also rated the top 10 cities for families. Number one was Plymouth, where the average price for a two-bedroom house is £131,976; in second place was Wolverhampton, where the average price is £105,768, and in third place was Stoke-on-Trent with £78,928.
Adviser view:
Michael Gate, a mortgage and protection adviser based near St Bees, said: “St Bees is a lovely place to live and the housing is still reasonably priced, although you would pay a lot more for a four-bedroom house, nearer £200,000 I would say.”
