House price growth in Britain’s new towns has outperformed the national average over the past decade, a report has found.
Milton Keynes, which is celebrating its 50th birthday, was identified as the best-performing new town for property price growth over the last 30 years. New towns generally have seen house prices go up by 32% over the last 10 years, increasing by just over £55,500, from £173,337 in 2006 to £228,902 in 2016.
House prices across Britain generally have increased by 26% over the last 10 years, from £200,059 to £251,679 – an increase of about £51,600.
Halifax said that since 1986, property prices in Milton Keynes had surged by 601% to reach £309,415 on average, making it Britain’s top-performing new town over the last three decades.
Telford, Corby, Warrington and Skelmersdale were the new towns with the next strongest percentage increases in house price growth between 1986 and 2016.
Many of the new towns with the strongest house price growth over the past 10 years are in the London commuter belt, with prices in Welwyn Garden City, Stevenage and Hemel Hempstead seeing particularly strong gains since 1986, the report said.
New towns were created in waves after the second world war to help alleviate housing shortages. Halifax, which used its own database, examined the house price performance of 26 new towns to mark the milestone birthday of Milton Keynes.
Martin Ellis, a housing economist at the bank, said: “Milton Keynes has been the best performing of all the new towns created following the second world war in terms of house price performance since 1986.
“Many of these new towns are within easy commuting distance of major commercial centres where property is typically more expensive, particularly in the south-east, where the average property price is well below that in London.
“This makes them a highly popular choice with home buyers, explaining their relatively good house price performance, and this popularity has been particularly notable during the last decade.”