Ticks all the boxes: Sudbury in Suffolk named top property hotspot in Britain this year
The picturesque market town of Sudbury has topped a league table of house prices rises outside of London.
Famous as the birthplace of painter Thomas Gainsborough and the centre of the area that inspired John Constable’s best landscapes, prices in the unspoilt town within commuting distance of London have rocketed by 13 per cent over the past year, according to Rightmove.
Average asking prices rose from £234,569 in the last quarter of 2016 to £265,291 in the last quarter of this year.
“Sudbury ticks all the boxes in terms of location, standard of living, mix of attractive properties and wealth of amenities,” says Dan Gurney, area manager at William H Brown Estate Agents in Sudbury.
“Sudbury is a property hotspot for those buyers attracted to its close proximity to Cambridge and range of Georgian and Victorian properties, plus we’ve seen a wave of buyers from London.”
One of the reasons for the rise could be its imminent direct train link to Colchester. At present, commuters from the local station must change at Marks Tey - a 20-minute journey - before boarding services that get into Liverpool Street an hour later.
However, in 2020 Abellio Great Anglia will introduce a direct link to Colchester, from where London-bound trains take as little as 49 minutes, shaving vital minutes off a commute to the capital.
THE BEST OF THE REST
Sowerby Bridge, in West Yorkshire, takes second spot in the Rightmove table, with average prices of £191,716 after a 12.5 per cent rise.
In Havant, Hampshire, prices rose by 9.7 per cent to £254,379. It’s a two-hour commute to Waterloo, but you do get waterside living for your money in the small town that sits between the attractions of Portsmouth and Chichester.
Rushden and Kettering, in Northamptonshire, both recorded rises of 9.7 per cent, with average prices now topping £227,534 and £198,354 respectively. London commuters from Rushden can be in St Pancras in one hour and 40 minutes, while Kettering residents can get to the capital in just 53 minutes.
West Bromwich in West Midlands was ninth in the table with a rise of 9.5 per cent to an average of £149,360, while the last spot was taken by March in the Cambridgeshire Fens.
Prices there rose by 9.4 per cent to £210,157, reflecting not only its proximity to Cambridge where that housing market has long been out of reach for local people, but also a 90-minute commute to King’s Cross, albeit with a change at Peterborough.