Price study looks at seaside life

Having this on the doorstep tends to push up house prices

Britons are prepared to spend an extra £5,000 just to live by the sea, new research suggests.

The average home in a seaside town costs 3% or £5,298 more than the average property in a coastal county.

A survey by Halifax Estate Agents looked at factors such as housing, health, education and environment.

Bridlington in East Yorkshire was the best value seaside town, while Christchurch in Dorset offered best quality of life, the survey claimed.

Sandbanks in Dorset is the most expensive seaside town, with the average home costing £488,761, while the average house price in Bridlington was just £139,645.

The group said house prices in seaside towns averaged £187,128, compared with an average price of £181,830 across counties which border the sea. The national average is nearly £200,000.

Properties in Sandbanks cost an average 106% more than the average for Dorset as a whole, followed by the Mumbles in Wales at 92% and St Andrews in Fife at 86%.

Most expensive seaside towns 1. Sandbanks, Dorset - average house price £488,761 2. Padstow, Cornwall - average price £334,385 Milford-on-Sea, Hampshire - average price £326,277

Overall 24 of the 117 seaside towns surveyed had homes that cost an average 20% more than the county they were in.

But there are 16 towns where prices are at least 20% lower than the county average, with prices 30% below average in Margate, in Kent, and 29% lower in Dover.

Nine of the 10 most expensive seaside towns in Britain are in the South West.

After Sandbanks, the second most expensive seaside town is Padstow in Cornwall, where houses cost £334,385, followed by Milford-on-Sea in Hampshire at £326,277.

House prices have risen most in Scottish towns during the three years to the end of March, with Eyemouth in the Scottish Borders seeing the average cost of a home soar by 82%.

Halifax said 24 out of the 117 seaside town had seen prices rise by 50% or more between March 2004 and March this year.