UK house prices: areas with the biggest rises and falls

The South Wales town of Barry is the top spot for growth in property prices outside London, a new study has revealed.

The average asking price in the seaside town, which is within commuting distance of Cardiff, has risen by 10.6% over the past year to £191,050, according to property website Rightmove.

And that increase follows five years of consistent growth in home values in Barry, best known as the setting of hit BBC sitcom Gavin and Stacey.

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Rightmove property expert Miles Shipside said it was “great to see Barry named as the country’s hottest property market”, and applauded the town as “a great tourist spot”.

Second place on the list - and the highest entry in England - was the West Midlands town of Wednesbury, where 10.1% growth took the average property price to £151,667.

At the other end of the scale, the town outside London that suffered the biggest fall in average property prices was Esher in Surrey, where a decrease of 6.7% saw the value of the average home dip to £958,012.

All five places where the biggest price drops were recorded are in England’s home counties.

Rightmove’s Shipside said: “The average price of property coming to market in the Southeast is still nearly 50% higher than it was ten years ago, so it is not surprising that following such a rapid rise there are now some downward re-adjustments taking place.”

Here are the top five towns with the biggest year-on-year increases in asking average prices:

1. Barry, £191,050, 10.6%2. Wednesbury, £151,667, 10.1%3. Llandudno, £212,400, 10.1%4. Kidderminster, £200,343, 10.0%5. Leigh, £137,614, 9.7%

The five towns with the biggest decreases were:

1. Esher, £958,012, -6.7%2. Banbury, £248,462, -6.6%3. Leatherhead, £566,625, -6.3%4. Sandhurst, £409,370, -5.5%5. Woking, £491,007, -5.1%