Buyers will get the most out of the coast in these 20 seaside hotspots — from Cornwall’s most creative town to the cool beach that is Edinburgh’s best-kept secret

By Tim Palmer

Wouldn’t it be nice if every day could feel like a holiday? It can — or at least a lot more so — when you live by the sea. Now could be the ideal time to make that move. Increases in council tax and stamp duty on second homes has had a big effect on house prices in the most popular seaside spots.

“While at the end of March prices for prime coastal properties were 12.8 per cent below where they were in the autumn of 2022, this sits against the context of 25 per cent growth during the preceding mini housing market boom,” says Lucian Cook, head of residential research at the estate agency Savills. “Nonetheless, for those looking to buy, this provides a good opportunity to get more for their money.”

Ben Horne, head of country buying at the search agents Middleton Advisors, adds: “To be able to sell on the coast, a property has to be priced attractively. That means low — lower than it would have achieved in 2022, perhaps lower than in 2019. That creates a market where buyers hold cards. Some owners really want to sell, others wisely recognise that a correction now on their sale price will be reflected in their onward purchase price.”

We’ve picked 20 of the best places to live by the coast. They’re all different. Some are pretty honeypots, others are salty city suburbs and a few are wild, wonderful and remote. And they all avoid the twin blights that affect so many of our coastal towns, which are often either crippled by deprivation or so overrun with second homes that you won’t find a pub, a shop or a light on in winter.

Best seaside towns to live in England

Falmouth, Cornwall

You may have seen this Cornish jewel cited as Britain’s “most depressing town” last year, but Falmouth has everything you need for a happy life by the sea: four great beaches, sparkling views at every turn and a town centre that’s like the coolest bit of a cool city, along with a young, fun and creative population.

“It’s all about the community. Our friendship group includes people of all ages and backgrounds and it’s really easy to get to know people. Falmouth attracts people who are more driven by the lifestyle than by money, and everyone is very supportive of each other,” Kathryn Tyler says.

Tyler is an interior designer who has lived here since arriving as a student in 1997. She and her partner, Angus, are responsible for the two award-winning Kiln community beach saunas, one on the main Gyllyngvase beach (Gylly for short), the other at Flushing just across the river. They have added a dose of Scandi-style wellbeing to the town.

There is a superior coffee scene (Beacon, Dark Pony, Espressini and more), some great pubs and restaurants (the Chintz, Beerwolf, the Seaview Inn, Hevva!), and a busy live music scene — you’ll find something to enjoy day or night. And there’s almost as much happening in its arty neighbour, Penryn.

Falmouth is also a great place to bring up children, Tyler says — she has a two-year-old son, Kaspar. “It’s like a massive playground, with all the beaches and all the open space. There’s a very young community, there are really good networks and support groups and the great thing is that you can walk everywhere.”

There’s a good range of homes, many with sea views, or at least sea or river glimpses. Allow at least £1.5 million for something substantial overlooking Swanpool or Maenporth beach, although the pretty period riverside townhouses on Wodehouse Terrace, Stratton Terrace and Tehidy Terrace (about £1 million) are just as good. Small terraces, bungalows and some seafront apartments are available for about £350,000.
Average house price: £417,689

Tynemouth, Tyne & Wear

An unshakeable fixture in The Sunday Times Best Places to Live, Tynemouth’s mix of brilliant beaches and buzzy streets is hard to resist. Whether you’re catching a wave at Longsands, slurping a Lindisfarne oyster at Riley’s Fish Shack or hunting for treasures in the indoor market at the old railway station, you’ll always feel you’re living your best life here.

The schools are good, the centre of Newcastle is about 30 minutes away on the Metro and the strength of the community is evident in projects such as the campaign to restore Tynemouth Outdoor Pool, the 1920s lido overlooking Longsands beach.

Such riches don’t come cheap of course, even in the budget-friendly northeast of England. You can expect to pay about £500,000 for a period terrace close to the beach, relatively big bucks in the region, or upwards of £1.5 million for a house in Percy Gardens, a Victorian crescent with sea views.
Average house price: £238,943

Beer, Devon

There’s something nicely old-fashioned about Beer, a tranquil village at the western end of the Jurassic Coast. It’s all colourful beach huts, flint cottages and fishing boats on its pebbly beach. There are some good pubs (though the name derives from the woodland that used to surround the area, rather than for a boozy reason), cafés and a lively year-round social scene, much of it based around the sailing club and the annual regatta. The sense of community is strong too — a local community land trust has succeeded in building affordable homes for locals in the village.

Exeter is only half an hour away by car, and Colyton Grammar (the second best school in the southwest of England, according to The Sunday Times Parent Power Guide) is even closer. There are great coastal walks nearby and a wide choice of houses, including modest bungalows for £300,000, bay-windowed townhouses from £600,000 and spacious clifftop villas from £1.5 million.

Despite this, Beer remains about as under-the-radar as the Jurassic Coast gets. “It’s pretty and unspoilt and there’s a great lifestyle, but unlike Lyme Regis or Sidmouth, which get really busy, nobody really knows it’s here,” says Rupert Stephenson, regional director of Black Brick buying agents.
Average house price: £486,220 (five-year average)

New Brighton, Merseyside

This Victorian spot just across the Mersey from Liverpool is the opposite of a fading resort. A refreshed streetscape, community clean-ups and lots of cool new independent businesses are the most visible signs of the long-term planning and investment that are turning New Brighton into a lively rival to fancier Wirral neighbours such as Heswall, Hoylake and West Kirby.

Highlights include the vintage and vinyl shops, bars and restaurants in the Victoria Quarter, and SUP, a bar/café/crafted goods shop opposite the railway station (from where Merseyrail trains will take you to Liverpool Central in 25 minutes).

A golden beach — safe for swimming when the lifeguards are about — and sweeping views across the river to Liverpool docks and Everton FC’s new stadium maintain the maritime feel. Prices are relatively forgiving too, with four-bedroom Victorian semis and terraces from about £250,000.
Average house price: £183,869

Deal, Kent

Look back from the end of the brutalist pier at the colourful pebbly beach and the jumble of historic houses and it’s easy to see why Deal remains the most appealing spot on the Kent coast — although the lack of golden sand keeps the number of day-trippers down.

The browsable high street — posh and quirky at one end, down to earth at the other — has everything a high street should, and the town’s sense of community is winning out against the weekenders from London. The beautiful community gardens at Sandown Castle and the number of people taking part in regular beach cleans are proof of that.

Train connections to the capital are fast (direct to London St Pancras in just under an hour and a half), if not quite as regular as they used to be.

Deal’s great draw is its range of beautiful period properties, mostly in the Middle Street conservation area. Once they were a magnet for theatrical types, but latterly they have been a canvas for those architects and interior designers who see 18th-century proportions and winding staircases as a challenge rather than a drawback. High demand means these houses have been hard to come by in recent years and prices are still high — at least £400,000 for two bedrooms, £700,000 for four — but there’s movement in the market again. “The number of listings has significantly increased since Easter and the quality is better than last year, with more higher-value properties,” says Rebecca Lead, a director at the Bright & Bright estate agency.
Average house price: £341,912

Southsea, Hampshire

Southsea is more than just the acceptable face of Portsmouth. Once a celebrity-friendly resort that was home to the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling and Peter Sellers, it’s now a fun and funky hotspot.

The revamped prom is the perfect spot for a golden-hour jog or stroll, the beach is family-friendly and the streets are filled with interesting independent shops, bars and restaurants. The highlights include the artisan bakery Bread Addiction, the Canteen café/restaurant, which is as much an arts hub as a place to eat, and Broadway Coffee Roasters, supplier of top-class beans to the Royal Navy among others. Duane Bradshaw, Broadway’s boss, who was born in Portsmouth, says Southsea’s spirit is hard to beat. “We have the sea air, the sound of waves brushing the pebbles and history in every building, but what makes this little coastal pocket remarkable is its community. People here choose independent over chain, quality over quantity, and community over convenience.”

Everywhere’s walkable and there’s a good selection of properties, such as the historic homes of Old Portsmouth (where £1 million buys a grandstand view of passing aircraft carriers), smart Victorian semis and terraces for about £500,000, and eco-friendly homes from £224,950 at St James Park, a new development in the former St James Hospital.
Average house price: £274,070

Hunstanton, Norfolk

Something is stirring on this part of the north Norfolk coast. The arrival of new wine bars and artisan bakeries in villages such as Snettisham, Thornham and Holme-next-the-Sea should lure the canny homebuyer away from the usual hunting grounds on the well-known stretch between Burnham Market and Cromer. Hunstanton (pronounced “Hunston” if you want to fit in), meanwhile, hasn’t quite shed its slot-machines-and-walking-frames image, but the surrounding villages are lush and lovely.

According to Jamie Jamieson, a Norfolk-based property search agent, this area doesn’t just have great sunsets, a winning golf course and easy access to the best of the coast — Holkham’s endless sands and the magical marshland around Blakeney and Cley — but also easy connections to London via King’s Lynn, and all with a more modest price tag.

Interesting new foodie businesses such as the Old Store at Snettisham (soon to open a branch in Thornham) and White Horse Bakery in Holme provide reason to linger. Allow £750,000 for a four-bedroom detached house or £1.5 million for a barn conversion or a house with a bit more land.
Average house price: £299,396

Clevedon, Somerset

Nobody could mistake the latte-coloured tidal rush of the Bristol Channel for the azure waters of the Caribbean, but for anyone who wants to breathe fresh briny air while keeping Bristol close at hand, Clevedon is, hands down, the best option.

The best thing here is Clevedon Marine Lake. Run by volunteers and topped up fortnightly by the tide, it’s the world’s largest saltwater infinity pool and provides a clean alternative to the murky waters of the channel for swimmers, kayakers and paddleboarders. Clevedon is an attractive town too, with an elegant pier, views across the water to Wales and a parade of independent shops with a village vibe in Hill Road.

Bristol is 40 minutes away by car, but the tree-lined avenues of smart Victorian villas winding down from the town’s seven hills could easily pass for one of the city’s well-scrubbed suburbs. And the best homes are a bit cheaper than in overheated Bristol — expect to pay about £1.2 million for a substantial period detached on Cambridge Road or neighbouring streets.
Average house price: £402,666

The Witterings, West Sussex

West Wittering’s expanse of pristine white sand is a beach for the ages, a stunning coastal playground that would look more at home in the tropics than in the overcrowded south of England. Surfers, windsurfers, swimmers, birdwatchers, kayakers and paddleboarders can all occupy themselves happily, with only the £15.45 peak car park charge and the serious summer traffic jams to spoil the idyllic image. Which is why it makes sense to live close by if you can.

You’ll need an A-list budget to join the likes of Keith Richards and Kate Winslet in the beautiful flint houses on West Wittering’s lovely lawns, though. These sell for at least £2 million and are likely to be snapped up long before they reach an estate agent’s window. East Wittering, however, is much more affordable (and laid-back) than its western neighbour. It has good three-bedroom homes for about £500,000.
Average house price: £645,861

Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire

Perhaps inspired by the film with which it shares a name (if little else — best not recreate the ending on the beach), Saltburn is having a bit of a moment. In the past 12 months it has been variously named Britain’s best beach, Britain’s most beautiful seaside town and Britain’s “best town for a seaside staycation”.

Take these “awards” with a pinch of sea salt if you like, but this gently faded Victorian resort does have looks and charm. The delicate pier (amusement-free) and the Cliff Tramway are an atmospheric reminder of the glory days of the British seaside, while the magnificent beach — eight miles long, no less — is now a mecca for the surfing crowd.

On days when the north wind turns a stroll on the prom into an icy endurance test, there’s always the beautiful Valley Gardens or a browse in the many backstreet galleries. The best properties are the big detached homes on Victoria Road and Victoria Terrace, which can sell for more than £1 million. The coveted terraces on the “jewel streets” — Pearl, Diamond, Emerald etc — are handy for the beach and will set you back about £500,000.
Average house price: £277,159

Hove, East Sussex

With plenty of beach to go around, and vibrant culture and nightlife, Hove (actually) is the UK’s best place to enjoy a city-by-the-sea lifestyle — it’s far less crowded and chaotic than Brighton with its relentless stream of boozy day-trippers. Here you’ll find a more relaxed lifestyle that is heavy on yoga, wellbeing and barista-made flat whites (44 Poets is especially good). There are plenty of good nurseries and schools, plus direct trains to London Victoria.

• Hove, East Sussex, named one of the best places to live 2025

The food scene is catching up with Brighton’s too, from the superior sarnies at Tom’s Sandwich Shop to fine dining at Etch. Hove also has a better selection of homes than its noisy neighbour, including seafront Regency apartments (up to £1 million), family-friendly Victorian terraces in Poets’ Corner (from £500,000) and luxury villas around Tongdean Road (£2.5 million).
Average house price: £547,063

Isle of Wight

This island is the ultimate natural playground for seekers of water-based fun. From serious sailors to kayakers, paddleboarders and wild-swimmers, everyone can find something to enjoy on the Isle of Wight’s 57-mile coastline. Even the short ferry crossing to get here can send stress levels tumbling.

Delightfully vintage in character — all seaside proms, Victorian piers, tea rooms and country lanes linking the quaint towns and villages — the island’s apparent disdain for the modern world seems increasingly like a selling point.

“You are sacrificing a bit of convenience by living on an island, but it does only take two and a half hours to get to London, there are lots of ferries, and the lifestyle and the value for money more than make up for it,” says Eilidh McIntyre, a former Olympic sailor (she won gold at the Tokyo Games in 2020) who is now a property buying agent with Middleton Advisors.

There’s a choice of lifestyles on offer too, from arty Ventnor and community-minded Bembridge, where you’ll find some of the best beaches, to laid-back Yarmouth and Freshwater in the wilder west, which attracts the coastal equivalent of the Soho House crowd. If you want a prime property on the beach, you’ll need anything from £1.5 million to £6 million, which might even bag a private stretch of sand. Nowhere here is more than 30 minutes from the coast, though, and there are much cheaper properties inland.
Average house price: £301,722

Best seaside towns to live in Scotland

The East Neuk, Fife

There’s nothing secret about the golden beaches, magical light and famous fish suppers on offer in the string of fishing villages that line the coast where the Firth of Forth meets the North Sea. What has changed is that, thanks to the remote-working revolution, Elie, Anstruther, Pittenweem, Crail et al are now places to live and work, rather than just to escape for a day’s paddling and the taste of freshly battered haddock.

With Edinburgh about 70 minutes away by car or train (from Leven railway station) for irregular commuters, and Dundee and St Andrews much closer, it’s no surprise that many second homes have been turning into first ones. A fisherman’s cottage overlooking Crail Harbour will set you back about £400,000, while anyone with £500,000 to spend can WFH with a view of the waves from a larger terraced home in Cellardyke, pausing for a dip in the newly restored tidal pool known locally as “the Bathie” — and perhaps even a session in one of the Neuk’s horsebox saunas.

There is also a burgeoning food and drink scene. Sample the gourmet fare at the Kinneuchar Inn in Kilconquhar or visit the Bowhouse food market in St Monans, which attracts top producers from across Scotland once a month.
Average house price: £360,541

Portobello, Edinburgh

Portobello is a breath of fresh sea air in overheated Edinburgh. Its beach and car-free prom are just 20 minutes’ cycle from Princes Street — bikes are a big part of life in progressive “Porty” — but the relaxed atmosphere could hardly be more different. No wonder that it has become the location of choice for young families and creative types, attracted by the chance to play on the sand, dip in the (generally) clean water and admire the continuing transformation from fading Victorian bathing outpost to revitalised hipster hub.

Browse in the independent shops — the Portobello Bookshop, in particular, is a high street treat — and feast from the bagel bakery, seafood shack or popular New York-style pizza joint. There’s a nice selection of tenements and townhouses, though Porty is no longer the bargain it was a decade ago. Expect to pay £400,000 for a flat in a prime location, while the best houses sell for £1 million or so.
Average house price: £379,545

Cullen, Moray

A splash of local spirit — and not just the whisky from the nearby Glenglassaugh distillery — keeps this pretty fishing village lively all year round, and earned it a debut in the annual Sunday Times Best Places to Live guide.

Tiny Cullen is full of small businesses — a deli, a coffee truck with a view, a sauna on the beach, antiques and interiors shops, cafés and restaurants — and volunteering here is a strength. Paths have been restored, the community centre hosts a wide range of classes, and a campaign has saved the public loos. It’s the water that’s the main focus, though, with paddleboarding, sailing, surfing and fishing a big part of life, along with “dooking” for crabs. You’re a long way from urban pleasures —Aberdeen and Inverness are both 60 miles away — but if you can put up with that, you can bag a grand villa in the centre for between £400,000 and £500,000, or a waterside cottage on Seatown for between £200,000 and £300,000.
Average house price: £216,320

Best seaside towns to live in Wales

Gower peninsula, Swansea

There’s seaside for everyone on this modest peninsula, from the surfer-friendly waves of wild Rhossili and Llangennith to brooding cliffs, sandy bays, salt marshes and the ice-cream stops in Mumbles. Easy access to the improving city of Swansea is a bonus, and one of the reasons why The Sunday Times named the Gower as the best place to live in Wales this year.

The Gower is a place with a lot of local pride and all kinds of cool, creative and sustainable independent businesses, from potteries and surfboard shapers to bakeries and community veg projects.

Another reason to live there is the wide choice of homes, from the aspirational enclaves of Langland Bay and Caswell Bay, supposedly Wales’s answer to the Hamptons and with price tags to match: from £1 million or so for a good-sized detached home to well over £2 million. There’s better value to be found inland, though. Canny buyers should look at Crofty or Penclawdd, which are further from the famous beaches but handy for Swansea — there’s a good range of homes there, from about £250,000 for a three-bedroom property.
Average house price: £459,466 (five-year average)

Aberdovey, Gwynedd

Perfectly placed where the mountains of Snowdonia tumble down to the sea, Aberdovey (Aberdyfi in Welsh) provides glorious views of sunsets, night skies, seals and otters basking in the estuary and dolphins playing in Cardigan Bay.

“The views are ever-changing,” Phil Thomas, a local businessman, says. “The sea can be beautifully flat and calm, or the waves might crash over the sea wall and on to the street — sometimes on the same day.” Thomas runs Coast, a deli and restaurant that brings a buzz to the village. Look out too for Dai’s Shed, a fish stall on the wharf, the Braided Rug Company and the Tides Inn, which opened in 2022.

There are a fair few second homes here but this is no off-season ghost town, Thomas says. “It’s quieter but it’s still a busy seaside village. The holiday homes are well used and the owners are a big part of the community. Even though not everyone lives here all the time, Aberdyfi has a strong community feel.”

The downside is that house prices are high by Welsh standards. A seafront townhouse will fetch at least £500,000, a large detached home on one of the ever-popular hillside roads could cost anything from £1 million. If that’s too expensive, consider Tywyn, four miles up the coast. It’s a bit more old-school but has decent-sized bungalows for £250,000-£350,000 and the feel of a village that’s going places. Tywyn also has a brilliant cinema, some good shops and restaurants — Millie & Sid’s coffee shop, Salt Marsh Kitchen — not to mention the Talyllyn steam railway, one of the lines that inspired The Railway Series books by the Rev Wilbert Awdry (which starred Thomas the Tank Engine).
Average house price: £358,997

Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan

Cardiff’s smartest suburb is one of those rare places where class and convenience mix with all the fun of the coast. Penarth has an impressive array of schools, independent shops, restaurants and cafés, not to mention fast connections to the centre of Cardiff. It is a place where folk can go about their daily business, then make the most of the water when the working day is done. Or before it starts, in the case of the Dawnstalkers, a band of sea swimmers who gather daily at first light close to the pretty pier. For the less hardy there’s always paddleboarding, sailing and kayaking.

Penarth has a great choice of Victorian homes. Marine Parade hogs the headlines, with imposing mansions built to give Victorian shipping tycoons a view of their cargoes sailing into port. These sell for as much as £3.5 million. There are quieter and far cheaper options, however, such as the large detached Victorian and Edwardian homes on Victoria Road, Westbourne Road and Plymouth Road.
Average house price: £354,260

Solva, Pembrokeshire

With its sheltered harbour hidden between fragrant, gorse-covered hillsides, Solva could hardly be more beautiful. In the lower half of the village, colourful shops line the main road and old cottages sit beside the rushing river. Climb into Upper Solva and it’s all big skies and distant views of St Brides Bay. For surfing, swimming and sandcastles, the epic beaches at Newgale and Whitesands Bay are close.

The number of second homes here does make the property market unforgiving for many locals, but there is also a determination among the full-time population to take care of each other and keep Solva lively all year round.

Bay View Stores is a brilliant village shop and starting point for the new year treasure hunt, which kicks off a packed programme of events. There are duck races in the river, a fireworks display and, biggest and best of all, the annual Edge Festival, a weekend of music and culture that brings the entire community together as volunteers, spectators and sometimes performers, with profits going to local good causes.

The prettiest (and priciest) houses are on Prendergast, beside the river in Lower Solva. You can get a three-bedroom semi for about £400,000; budget up to £750,000 for something bigger and detached.
Average house price: £314,167 (five-year average)

Best seaside town to live in Northern Ireland

Dundrum, Co Down

You get all the sea you could ever want in Dundrum, chosen by The Sunday Times as the best place to live in Northern Ireland this year. Whether you’re swimming or paddleboarding among the seals and seabirds in the tidal waters of Dundrum Bay or watching the waves from the beach in the magnificent Murlough National Nature Reserve, you’re never far from some saltwater-based excitement.

Plenty of houses here have a view of the water, and the rest will probably have a view of the mighty Mourne Mountains — many have both. Allow £200,000 for a waterfront new-build, £300,000 for a Georgian townhouse.

Dundrum is a small place that feels out of the way, but Belfast is only 50 minutes away by car to the north, while Newcastle, a bustling bucket-and-spade resort, is 10 minutes away to the south.

There’s plenty going on in Dundrum itself, though, with some excellent places to eat — the Bucks Head, Mourne Seafood Bar and Scopers takeaway, for example — and a busy community occupied with all kinds of sports, art drop-ins, pub quizzes and open-mic nights at the much loved Dundrum Inn.
Average house price: £228,206 (source: PropertyPal)

House prices supplied by Savills using Land Registry data, except where stated. In locations where there were not enough transactions to supply an annual average, a five-year one has been provided instead.

By Hugh Graham

The property ladder is disappearing as young people save on stamp duty and moving costs by settling in their ‘for ever home’ much earlier

Marie Calligaris always thought her first property would be a flat, then she would gradually climb the property ladder. The trainee clinical scientist, 27, has just had an offer accepted on her first home with her partner, however, and it’s a four-bedroom house in Haslemere, Surrey.

Calligaris had been renting for several years in Brighton and her partner had been renting in London, where he works. Both had terrible landlords and endless problems. They decided it was time to buy, and moved in with her partner’s parents in Chichester, West Sussex, to save money. Haslemere was their target area because it’s a good halfway point for their commutes.

They considered buying a flat, but the threshold for first-time buyers paying stamp duty starts at £300,000 — at that price, they could have bought a one or two-bedroom flat in that area, but they hope to start a family in the next few years.

When her partner’s parents offered to help them financially, it was a no-brainer to look for a house. Otherwise they would have had to pay hefty stamp-duty charges each time they climbed the ladder. “A lot of the three-bedroom houses were in the same ballpark as the four-bedroom, and from a stamp duty point of view, there was no difference,” Calligaris says. “The four-bedroom house cost £575,000. We’re going to be paying just shy of £19,000 in stamp duty, and we would have had to pay the same for a smaller house.”

“The cost of moving is expensive,” she says. “You’re just shooting yourself in the foot if you need to move every two or three years because you have another child. We’d rather go straight for the house now and live in this property for ten years.”

The days of taking baby steps up the property ladder are disappearing, according to Camilla Dell, the founder of Black Brick, a buying agent. As property becomes less affordable, first-time buyers are getting older and saving longer by living with their parents or in flatshares. When they finally do buy — often with help from the Bank of Mum and Dad — they go big.

“In the old days, you might buy your studio, then sell it, then buy your one-bed, then sell, then a two or three-bed, then a family house,” Dell says. “That pattern, certainly in London, has vanished as a result of extortionately high stamp duty rates. People are moving less and trying to future-proof. First-time buyers want a house that will last them a good ten years.”

• The empty nester hotspots also ideal for first-time buyers

First-time buyers Jake Kelly and Emily Read have also gone straight for a house. Kelly, 30, spent seven years renting flats in east London and another year renting with Read in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. Kelly, an account executive for a tech firm, reckons he has spent about £67,000 in rent and thought it was time to stop throwing money down the drain. They’ve had an offer of £580,000 accepted for a three-bedroom semi in Guildford, Surrey.

They didn’t even consider buying a flat. “I’m sure for £580,000, you could secure a lovely flat in London, but then you’d have to go through the whole rigmarole of moving again if you get pregnant or get a dog,” Kelly says. “A lot of big life happenings are probably within the next five years, so it felt like a flat would be a short-sighted decision.”

Kelly finds moving stressful and isn’t keen to repeat the experience or the £19,000 in stamp duty they’re paying. Buying a house made financial sense. “My girlfriend and I complement each other quite well in terms of partnership — she inherited enough for a deposit and I have quite a good wage that allowed us to secure a good mortgage, so we make up for each other’s shortfalls.”

• A simple guide to buying your first home

About 73 per cent of first-time buyers in Britain have bought a house in 2025, up from 62 per cent in 2020, according to Hamptons estate agents. In London, 50 per cent have bought a house, compared with 37 per cent in 2020. “Stamp duty is a big factor, with first-time buyers increasingly opting to buy larger homes to avoid having to move again in a few years when they won’t be eligible for a stamp duty exemption or discount,” says Aneisha Beveridge, the head of research at Hamptons.

First-time buyers pay no stamp duty below £300,000 and 5 per cent between £300,000 and £500,000. Above £500,000 they lose any first-time buyer discount.

Beveridge says the average age of a first-time buyer has risen to its highest level of 33.1, according to data from UK Finance, an industry body.

“We’re seeing a clear shift: more first-time buyers are skipping starter properties and going straight for family homes,” says James Evans, the chief executive of Douglas & Gordon, a London estate agency. “The fact that the average first-time buyer in London is in their mid-30s — more likely to be thinking about children and needing extra space — it’s no wonder we’re seeing people take the leap straight into their ‘forever home’.”

• How the Bank of Mum and Dad divided the housing market

The disappearing rungs of the ladder are having wider effects on the property market, according to Dell. “There will be a potential oversupply of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom flats as they become less popular. And increasing demand for your three to four-bed terraced houses, starter homes in outer prime London areas.”

Dell says there is healthy competition for £1 million houses in outer prime London family neighbourhoods such as Fulham, West Hampstead, Clapham and Balham.

By contrast, demand for flats is dwindling. The problems with cladding post-Grenfell have undoubtedly cooled demand for flats. Matt Turner, the director of Rash & Rash estate agents in Southgate, north London, also says the profile of first-time buyers is changing in his patch. “They’re no longer buying £400,000 apartments. They’re now spending £750,000 and buying houses.”

Turner recently sold a two-bedroom flat he owned in the area for £410,000. “In 2016, we had it under offer at £430,000. I’ve sold it for £20,000 less nine years later. If I’d sold it then and bought a house for £500,000, that would probably be worth £700,000 now. Houses are really sought after, apartments are not.”

In London, the average price of a flat has grown only 2 per cent in five years, compared with 12 per cent for a terraced house, according to Hamptons. In Britain, the average price of a flat has increased 16 per cent in five years; a terraced house is up 31 per cent.

Buying as an investment was on the mind of Diogo Rodrigues and his partner, Laura Anderson, when they bought their first home: a three-bedroom house for £529,950 in Chesterford Meadows, a village development just outside Saffron Walden, Essex.

Rodrigues, a business development manager for a pharmaceutical company, and Laura, a PE teacher, lived at home with their parents until they were 26, saving money, then rented together for a year as a trial.

When it came time to buy, a house was the obvious answer. “One reason was that we wanted to maximise our return on investment,” Rodrigues says. “I’ve had older colleagues who bought flats as their first property, and had difficulty selling them and making a decent profit when they eventually outgrew it.

“Also, in five to ten years’ time, if Laura and I decide to have children or want to have pets, a house just made more sense.”

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As befits an increasingly polarised society, the straight-to-house trend is a case of the haves and have-nots. Among Rodrigues and Anderson’s group of friends, the only ones who can afford to buy are couples with dual incomes — the single people are still renting or living with parents. It’s the couples who are leapfrogging up the ladder to their forever homes, often helped by parents.

Dell is concerned that fewer rungs means fewer moves, which doesn’t make for a healthy market. “Overall, volumes are massively down since George Osborne started messing around with stamp duty. That’s why it’s such a terrible tax. The housing market contributes a significant amount to the GDP. And yet the stamp duty stops the market from being fluid, as it causes people to stay in the same place longer than they should.” (Dell concedes another reason more people moved up the ladder in the early 2000s was because it was easier to get a mortgage).

Calligaris, for her part, is happy to be putting down roots. “We’re very fortunate to be able to live at home, to put money aside, and have parental help for the deposit. I realise a lot of people, like my siblings, are not in that position.

“I always thought we’d start with a flat, or a one or two-bed house and work our way up. But now that we’re in this position, I’m very thankful we’re doing it this way. I like knowing we’ll be there for the long term.”

A record 104,794 home sellers slashed their prices last month. Could the Bank of England’s base rate cut today signal future falls in mortgage rates and offer a lifeline?

By David Byers

The spring housing market is traditionally a hive of activity, with homes flanked by gardens of tulips and daffodils flying off estate agents’ shelves like hot cakes.

However, this spring has been a season of two drastically contrasting halves. After a frenetic start in March, when buyers set new records for deals done and mortgages taken out, it all went very quiet in April and sellers have been left pleading for attention since.

In early spring, before the cheaper rate of stamp duty expired on March 31, there was a flurry of activity, as buyers — particularly first-timers — desperately rushed to complete their purchases, trimming an average of £6,000 off their tax bills in London and the southeast.

As a result of this stampede, the number of house sales rose to a record of 177,370 in March, up from 109,700 in February — and more than double the 86,810 total recorded in March 2024 — according to HMRC. There was a surge in mortgage borrowing, up from £3.3 billion in February to £13 billion in March, while stamp duty receipts for a gleeful Treasury in the first quarter of this year were £2.595 billion — the third quarter in a row when they were above £2.5 billion.

After this rush, as the calendar ticked over to April Fool’s Day, the dust settled — and, for many sellers, it has been tumbleweeds all the way since as they struggle to find buyers for their homes.

The property portal Zoopla reports that there were 15 per cent more homes for sale in April compared with the same time last year, but only 1 per cent more buyers. The average estate agency, meanwhile, has 34 homes sitting on the market — the highest number in any April since 2019.

As a result of this buyer desert, many sellers are taking urgent action. Data given to The Times by TwentyCi, the analytics company, shows a record 104,794 sellers reduced the price of their properties last month, which is higher than all prior Aprils going back to 2019.

At the height of the Covid boom, when buyers were flocking to the market amid the April 2021 stamp duty holiday, only half as many — 51,376 — needed to cut their prices because there were so many more buyers around.

All of which means that this spring there will be a simple mantra for many sellers, particularly in more affluent areas, where prices (and therefore stamp duty) are higher: cut your prices or have your home languish. As Simon Gerrard, chairman of Martyn Gerrard Estate Agents, says: “The stamp duty changes have had an immediately chilling effect on the market.”

And yet it isn’t all bad news. With today’s cut in the Bank of England base rate of interest from 4.5 to 4.25 per cent, mortgage rate cuts look likely to accelerate across high street lenders in the coming weeks, potentially luring buyers back to the market and providing some desperately needed attention for those neglected sellers.

Here’s what you need to know about the strangest spring market in recent years.

The spring where only certain areas are in bloom

As March ticked into April and stamp duty rose, data provided toThe Times shows the huge extent to which the UK’s housing market cooled almost overnight. PropCast, a data platform that produces weather forecast-style heat maps for every area of the UK, shows the number of “hot” markets — where more than 35 per cent of properties listed for sale are under offer — shrank from 1,730 in March to 1,678 in the space of a month.

However, the regional variations are greater than ever. On the one hand, some areas in the southeast, southwest, east and London — where buyers are most affected by rising stamp duty and where international residents worried about higher taxes are selling up — are getting much chillier. For example, the SW10 postcode (covering West Brompton and part of Chelsea) has a paltry 11 per cent of advertised properties under offer, and Marylebone, Mayfair and Fitzrovia (W1), which has been particularly badly hit by foreign owners selling up, records only 9 per cent.

Camilla Dell, of Black Brick, a buying agent that sources properties at the most expensive end of the market for wealthy buyers, says the impact of Labour’s tax rises — and in particular the end of the non-dom scheme — is hobbling the priciest parts of London: “Buyers of prime London property are nervous about buying into a market with excessively high stamp duty rates and an exodus of wealthy people leaving our shores for more favourable tax jurisdictions.”

Areas in coastal resorts and beauty spots are also getting chillier, as rising taxes and running costs price out second-home buyers and holiday let investors. In TR8 (Mawgan Porth, Cornwall) only 25 per cent of advertised properties were under offer in April. In Windermere (LA23) it was 23 per cent.

By contrast, property markets in northern areas — where large numbers of homes remain beneath the stamp duty threshold (of £250,000 for home-movers and £425,000 for first-time buyers in England) and are popular with investors and first-timers — are still booming. For example CA1 (Carlisle) and SK3 (Stockport) both have 73 per cent of homes on the market under offer.

Reflecting this extraordinary divide, Edward Hartshorne, managing director of Blenkin & Co, an agency in York, says: “March and April saw some of the best trading months in our 33-year history.”

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“Many sellers have just not grasped that we are in a very challenging market, and have not adapted accordingly,” Marc Schneiderman, director of Arlington Residential, says.

Jamie Hope, managing director of Maskells, agrees: “This is a price-critical environment. We recently agreed to the sale of a good house that, at the initial asking price, saw no offers. The price was reduced and, within two weeks, three buyers competed and the house is now under offer close to the original asking price.”

There is early evidence that sellers in most areas are indeed dropping their prices meaningfully, according to Hamptons, the estate agency. It found that across Britain, nearly half (48 per cent) of homes sold in April were reduced in price, up from 45 per cent in January, February and March this year. This ranges from 52 per cent of sellers reducing prices in the south to 42 in the north.

However, the average number of homes on agents’ books is still the highest in recent years, at 34 properties per agent, according to Zoopla, which suggests more price cuts are needed.

Ultimately, sellers need to familiarise themselves with the picture in their area and act accordingly.

Light at the end of the tunnel — as mortgages become cheaper and easier to get

In the short term Gerrard believes the sluggishness in parts of the market will continue. “It’s likely that these [stamp duty] changes will act as a persistent brake on transactions,” he says. Indeed, data released last week by Nationwide showed national prices down 0.6 per cent month on month, reflecting that trend, although Halifax recorded a modest 0.3 per cent rise in figures out on Thursday.

Yet the evidence is that in areas hit the hardest by rising taxes there might be the prospect of a brighter summer ahead as borrowing becomes cheaper. The Bank of England cut interest rates today in the first of what is likely to be a series of back-to-back rate cuts that could result in them falling by as much as one percentage point over the next six months, City analysts believe.

This will particularly help buyers in pricier southern areas, who are struggling to afford the loans needed to meet more expensive house prices. The number of mortgage products being offered by lenders has steadily gone up in recent weeks as rates have reduced. And lenders are being asked by the financial regulator to be more generous on affordability calculations to allow more people to borrow.

Look around, buyers: there are new-build deals to be had

However, if you’re a buyer and fear your stamp duty bill will price you out, rest assured there are people even more desperate than you — new-build developers.

Builders are suffering a double whammy, with high taxes putting off prospective buyers who were, in many cases, already deterred by the end of the Help to Buy scheme, which until 2023 used to provide loans of up to 40 per cent to first-time buyers to buy new-builds.

Now, many developers are desperately trying to compensate with lucrative incentives to cancel out tax rises. Peabody New Homes, for example, will provide up to £11,250 to buyers at its developments including Higgs Yard at Loughborough Junction, southeast London, where properties start at a pricey-looking £424,000 for a one-bedroom flat.

Another developer, Backhouse, is offering an incentive of £10,000 to buyers purchasing in their Cotswolds developments at Blunsdon, Highworth and Moreton-in-Marsh.

Barratt, another developer, has launched a scheme called Starter Deposit Match, in which the developer will add 5 per cent on top of any 5 or 10 per cent deposit raised by a buyer. Meanwhile, NHG Homes is offering £5,000 cashback on one-bedroom apartments at the Perfume Factory, where prices start from £435,000, but where buyers can buy slices of a home under the Shared Ownership scheme (read the smallprint carefully before entering into such arrangements). Lovell Homes is offering to pay stamp duty on its flats at Trinity Park in Woolwich.

So, for cash-strapped buyers looking for money off a newbuild — or hunting for a bargain as desperate sellers drop their prices — this could counterintuitively be a time of opportunity. “There are some clear buying opportunities,” Robin Chalk, of the agency Anderson Rose, says. “Spring is a season of contrasts, after all.”

The US president has caused stock market turmoil. Why buyers and borrowers could be in for a wild ride

By Hugh Graham, David Byers and Carol Lewis

Just as everything seemed to be settling down after the rush to beat last week’s stamp duty tax hike, tariff turmoil has hit.

Twenty-four hours after the stamp duty deadline on April 1, President Trump declared “liberation day”, launching a global trade war that has led to stock market meltdown, initially pummelling the value of investments and pensions and unleashing uncertainty across the world.

Then, the president U-turned, telling reporters at the White House that people were “getting a little bit yippy”, and announced a 90-day pause in the higher rate of “reciprocal tariffs”. The FTSE 100 and 250 recovered to more than 8,000 points yesterday morning, in the biggest rally in more than five years.

However, given the president’s propensity to make seemingly contradictory announcements at a whim that can change the prospects of global economies, what is clear is that we have entered a period of unprecedented unpredictability which makes it near-impossible for people to plan what to do when making big decisions with their money. What does this mean for those hoping to buy or sell property, or take out a mortgage?

Is it 2008 all over again?

Whenever there is significant stock market uncertainty, some analysts look back with trauma at the 2008 financial crisis, which triggered job losses, left homeowners with easy-come mortgages sliding into negative equity, repossessions soaring and house prices dropping by about 20 per cent.

However, don’t panic. As the consequences of the autumn 2022 mortgage rate spiral showed, homeowners today have been far more extensively stress-tested than before the 2008 financial crisis, which means repossessions have stayed extremely low — and will continue to do so, even if further unpredictability sends markets into a fresh tailspin.

Matthew Swannell, the chief economic adviser to the EY Item Club, a leading economic forecasting group, says: “A careful and measured approach should be taken when comparing the UK’s current economic circumstances with the global financial crisis, when UK GDP fell by more than 6 per cent and the unemployment rate increased to about 8 per cent.

“The global financial crisis led to a significantly deeper downturn than even the Office for Budget Responsibility’s most pessimistic tariff scenario, where GDP is estimated to fall by just over 1 per cent.”

What about the super-rich?

Camilla Dell, who founded her property consultancy Black Brick in 2007, just before the financial crisis, says the luxury end of London’s property was already a buyer’s market, even before Trump. High tax is putting off purchasers — stamp duty can be as high as 19 per cent for overseas buyers compared with 4 per cent in 2008 — with tax advantages to invest in buy-to-let gone and the non-dom regime abolished.

So, this turmoil is the latest in a series of causes of a market slowdown, rather than the primary trigger. “The result of stamp duty increases and non-dom tax changes have caused prices in London to decrease to levels not seen since the financial crisis,” she says.

Helen Whitfield, whose Butler Sherborn agency deals with high-end homes in the Cotswolds, says: “The conversations I’ve had with people who are buying at the moment, some of them are like, ‘I’ve just had £400,000 wiped off the value of my stocks and shares.’” However, up until this week she says the market had been going well with her phone “ringing off the hook” and she believes it will again, particularly as most of her buyers don’t need mortgages. “The Cotswolds isn’t dying on its feet yet,” she adds.

What about the rest of us?

For most of the market, though, uncertainty abounds. And when there is uncertainty over people’s finances and their investments, there is likely to be a slowdown, particularly among middle-class movers. For sellers, this means being realistic on pricing, while buyers are likely to negotiate more robustly.

The latest monthly survey of property professionals by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), covering March, found the weakest buyer sentiment since September 2023.

It said “three-month sales expectations point to a further dip in activity over the near term, but further ahead the outlook is not quite as downbeat with sales volumes expected to rise.”

Simon Rubinsohn, Rics chief economist, says: “The expiry of the stamp duty break was always going to lead to a pause in activity in the sales market. However, the latest results, and indeed the anecdotal remarks from respondents to our survey, suggest that the shift in sentiment has been aggravated by the slew of negative macro newsflow over the past few weeks.

“Looking forward, the impact on the market will in no small part depend on how the economy is affected by the emerging trade war and the response of the Bank of England to the shifting environment.”

Ashley Webb, a UK economist for Capital Economics, agrees the market may be more muted as buyers worry about their investments — given the propensity for the markets to dip, soar and dip again. “The fallout in financial markets could reduce households’ net wealth via pensions and investments, which in turn could weigh on consumer confidence.”

He notes that housing demand has always risen and fallen in line with households’ confidence. Capital Economics, however, has not yet adjusted its market forecast — predicting a 3.5 per cent rise in property prices in 2025 and 4.5 per cent next year.

Lucian Cook, the director of residential research for Savills, says: “Further economic uncertainty is likely to mean the continuation of a price-sensitive market through the spring, with activity dominated by needs-based buyers and sellers.”

Savills’ forecast, released after the spring statement, predicted transactions remaining slightly below their pre-pandemic average over the next five years, peaking at 1,150,000 in 2028 (there were 1,040,000 transactions last year). This may be further hit.

For those buying more affordable properties outside London and the south, the market is likely to be stronger than for those stretching themselves for pricier homes. Data published by Halifax on Monday showed a 6.6 per cent annual price growth to the end of March in Northern Ireland, where the average property price of £206,620 has scarcely recovered from its level during the financial crisis. Scotland (4.3 per cent) and Yorkshire and the Humber (4.2 per cent) come next, but pricier Greater London was registering an anaemic 1.1 per cent in property price growth.

Is property still a safe investment?

Timothy Hawe, the director of the Your Move estate agency in the Newcastle area, says the average value of properties across its 13 branches is £180,000 — and suggests sentiment in this market is strong, particularly because the rise in stamp duty didn’t affect this price point. “We’re not seeing people pulling out of deals or getting really nervous. The other reaction we’re getting is: aren’t bricks and mortar great? Property doesn’t have that massive fluctuation — people see it as a safe investment.”

Nathan Emerson, the chief executive of Propertymark, the membership body for the property sector, says: “Perversely [market disruption] creates an incentive for investing in property. Investing in property is for the long term. Buy-to-let isn’t as profitable as it once was, but there is a shortage of stock and oversupply of tenants and it’s a lot less volatile than the markets are.”

Is there good news for borrowers?

One reason for confidence is to be found in the mortgage market, with the possibility that borrowers may actually yield some benefit out of the world’s economy going into a tailspin.

About 1.34 million homeowners are due to come off expiring fixed-rate deals between April and December, according to the Financial Conduct Authority. Of these, up to 750,000 will be coming off super-cheap five-year fixes which they took out during the 2020 Covid era, which was set to leave them with a massive payment shock when they negotiated new deals.

However, there is now a suggestion that the Bank of England will need to cut interest rates faster than expected to stave off an economic downturn — a move which could lead lenders to cut rates.

Experts generally agree that the outlook for mortgages — while uncertain — looks slightly improved in light of this, at least in the short term.

Webb says: “The markets have concluded that interest rates will fall a bit faster than they previously thought. At face value, that implies the two-year mortgage rate will fall from 4.5 per cent in March to about 4.25 per cent.”

Chris Sykes, a broker at Private Finance, also sees reason for optimism on rates, even though the situation is “rather confused and up in the air”.

He adds: “Interest rate futures currently price in about an 85 basis point reduction this year according to Reuters, with Trump’s tariffs being the leading cause for changes in this over the past week.”

Although rates may get lower faster, this doesn’t necessarily mean everyone will be able to afford the cheaper rates.

While some lenders could follow the example of Santander in relaxing stress-testing, others are likely to be more cautious, given the uncertainty which affects their balance sheets. Martin Stewart, of the broker London Money, says: “If bank shares are hit hard — and they have been — it can have an effect on their capital adequacy ratio, which in turn leaves them having to ring-fence money to improve financial stability and absorb potential losses — money that they can’t then lend to the consumer.”

There’s also a counter-argument that the tariffs are likely to stoke inflation by making prices of goods more expensive, and so the Bank of England ought not to cut rates at all. Andrew Sentance, a former Monetary Policy Committee member, takes this view. “I expect UK inflation to go above 5 per cent this autumn and stay at around this level into next year.”

Emerson agrees: “In the short term we could see interest rate cuts but in the longer term there is an inflationary risk to the market, so rates could adjust again.”

Although, he adds: “There is nothing to suggest there will be a housing crash. We might see a little negotiation over stamp duty after the deadline but the fundamentals of the housing market remain. We have a supply shortage.”

What about first-time buyers?

For first-time buyers, the chance to pick up a bargain from modestly falling prices may provide a hint of optimism — even if increased stamp duty has raised the bills of buyers in the southeast and London (from £2,752 to £9,002, on average).

In the run-up to the stamp duty deadline, first-time buyers were over-represented in the market — purchasing a record 32 per cent of all homes in the first quarter of this year, up from 30 per cent a year earlier, a record high.

Those whose Lifetime Isa accounts are invested in the stock market may have seen their portfolio shrink significantly over the past week, setting back their hopes of affording a home.

Plus, given that the so-called Bank of Mum and Dad helped first-time buyers with £9.3 billion in 2024 — assisting 54 per cent of those buying homes — there are question marks over whether those whose investments have been hit will be able to afford it this time.

Will Labour’s building plans be hit?

There are also questions over whether inflation may hit the government’s ability to build the homes it has promised. “We will need to watch the impact on building material costs around the world. Costs are already at an all-time high and we’re already about half a billion bricks short of what we need. This could affect the government’s ability to hit its building targets. If building material costs do rise further it will be challenging to be affordable housing goals,” Emerson says.