There are now 73 “million-pound streets” in Britain, where the average property on the road is worth at least £1m. But where are Britain’s wealthiest homeowners likely to be found? And where can you snap up a house for the same price as a designer handbag?
Not surprisingly, London is home to six of the top 20 most expensive streets in England and Wales, according to the latest research by Lloyds Bank. The gong for the priciest pads for 2017 goes to Grosvenor Crescent in Belgravia, where average properties cost an eye-watering £16.9m – despite the street being mainly made up of flats.
The rest of London’s top-priced streets were found in Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea boroughs, which all had average property prices of more than £10m. Ilchester Place in Kensington was second on the list, with houses averaging £16.7m, followed by Eaton Square with a £13.6m average price tag – which was named number one last year. The most expensive street outside the capital was East Road in Weybridge, with average houses selling for just over £5m.
In the north-west, Alderley Edge, Altrincham and Congleton dominated the priciest places list, with Congleton Road in Alderley Edge taking top spot with average house prices of just short of £2m. For Yorkshire and the Humber, Fulwith Mill Lane in Harrogate came out top with prices averaging £1.5m, and Roman Road in Sutton Coldfield was the most expensive street in the West Midlands at £1.5m on average.
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There isn’t as much up to date information available for the UK’s cheapest streets, but Land Registry data from last year named Waterloo Walk in Washington, Sunderland as the lowest priced place to buy a property. The average house there costs just £14,600 – which is roughly what you’d expect to pay for a small Hermes Birkin handbag.
Durham appears in the bottom 10 list seven times, making it by far the cheapest region in the country. The Peterlee area in particular dominated the list, with Eleventh Street average houses priced at £17,019, Twelfth Street at £18,467, Seventh Street at £19,250 and Sixth Street at £19,479.
At the moment, Rightmove lists 11 properties in Peterlee whose starting prices are £20,000 or less, most of which are rundown auction properties in need of extensive renovation. They could prove to be a good investment opportunity for investors looking for an extremely low entry point and the potential of high yields, as well as an option for struggling first-time buyers who fancy a move to the small Durham town.