Waltham Forest is the UK’s property hotspot, where house prices have more than doubled in past decade

• Waltham Forest’s average house price increased by 126% between March 2011 and 2021 – by far the highest in the country
• Nine out of top ten highest average house price increases are London Boroughs – the other is Bristol
• Aberdeen is only UK area where prices have fallen over past ten years
• UK’s average house price has gone up by 54.7%

New analysis of the latest ONS figures has revealed that Waltham Forest has had the UK’s biggest increase in average house price over the past decade.

The study by A-Plan Insurance compared the average price of a house in March 2011 to March 2021, across more than 400 areas of the UK.

At the top of the list was the London borough of Waltham Forest, where the average price has jumped by a whopping 126% in comparison to ten years ago. The borough’s average in March 2011 was £216,578.46, while in March this year it stood at £490,895.16.

Hackney is the UK area with the second biggest increase in average house price between March 2011 and 2021, with the cost now standing at £604,465.62, an increase of 105% compared to a decade previously when it was £294,425.46.

In third is Barking and Dagenham, where prices have risen by 96%, with the average going from £161,659.74 in March 2011 up to £317,184.80 ten years on.

In total nine of the top ten areas with the highest average house price increase are London boroughs.

The only area outside the capital is Bristol, which ranks seventh in the UK thanks to an increase of 86.7%. The average house price in the city for March 2021 was £317,209.73, compared to £169,872.61 in March 2011.

The UK’s top house price hotspots over the past decade, by A-Plan Insurance

At the other end of the scale, one UK area saw a drop in average house price – the city of Aberdeen – reducing by 12.5%. The Scottish city’s average house price stood at £160,544.98 in March 2011, but ten years later it has fallen to £140,357.47.

Aberdeenshire has seen the second lowest increase in the UK, with its average house price going up by 5.5% in a decade – from £174,139.59 in March 2011 to £183,856.80 in March 2021.

Also in Scotland, Inverclyde’s average house prices have risen by the third lowest amount in the UK, and stood at £108,478.36 in March 2021, compared to £102,464.59 a decade prior – an increase of 5.8%.

Overall six of the UK’s ten lowest average house price increases are areas of Scotland.

The UK areas with the lowest average house price increase over the past decade, by A-Plan Insurance

Across the UK, the average house price in March 2011 was £165,648.54, while the latest figure stands at £256,405.17– an increase of 54.7%.

Comparing the four nations of the UK, England has seen the biggest increase in average house price over the past ten years – 58.6% – going from £173,045.56 in 2011, to £274,615.37 in 2021.

Wales showed the second highest increase of 48.1%, going up to £185,431.00 in March 2021, compared to £125,133.01 a decade earlier.

Scotland’s average house price has risen by 32% since March 2011 – third out of the four nations. It was £126,172.03, and according to the most recent ONS data, is now £166,566.05.

Northern Ireland has seen the lowest rise in the UK, but the average house price has still gone up by 25.3%, standing at £149,178.24 in March 2021, up from £119,023.88 in March 2011.

Commenting on the figures, a spokesperson for A-Plan Insurance said: “Ten years is a long time in the property market, and in the time more than half of the areas measured in the UK have seen the average house price rise by more than 50%. Some places have seen the average price nearly double in value, reflecting just how important home ownership is to people in the UK.”

The research was carried out by A-Plan Insurance, which has more than 100 high street branches nationwide. The company, established in the 1960s, provides a personalised service to more than 600,000 clients.