The 'unglamorous' Yorkshire town named as one of 6 UK property hotspots after house prices leap

After Bridlington recorded one of the UK’s biggest leaps in first-time buyer asking prices, a property expert has identified six other northern property hotspots.

Jonathan Rolande, a professional property buyer and housing commentator, has picked the towns where he expects house prices to rise most over the coming year - including two in Yorkshire.

He told how demand is growing in those towns, as it has in Bridlington, as buyers turn to more affordable options after being ‘priced out’ of larger cities.

“The same forces that lifted Bridlington are at work across a string of northern towns," he said.

“Lower entry prices, genuine first-time buyer demand, workable transport, family housing, and a steady flow of people priced out of dearer places.”

Below are Mr Rolande’s northern property hotspots, and the reasons why they made his list.

Dewsbury, West Yorkshire

Mr Rolande singles out Dewsbury as offering one of the lowest entry points of any town its size in the country. Rightmove records first-time buyer asking prices up 12 per cent, to £130,133, while the official figure for the wider Kirklees district rose a steadier 4.0 per cent, to £205,741.

“A starting price under £140,000, with reasonable rail links and plenty of family terraces, is exactly what a priced-out buyer is chasing,” he said.

“At that level, the question is not whether demand exists - it is whether enough homes come to market to meet it.”

Barnsley, South Yorkshire

Average prices in Barnsley rose 5.6 per cent in the year to April, to £173,100 - still buying noticeably more space than equivalent money would secure in Sheffield or Leeds.

“It is unglamorous, and that is rather the point,” Mr Rolande said. “Towns like this draw people who have stopped waiting for larger centres to come back within reach, and once that demand settles in it tends to stick. Barnsley is not having a moment - it is building a base.”

Rochdale, Greater Manchester

Average prices rose 5.1 per cent, to £211,558 - the highest of the six towns on Mr Rolande's list. He expects measured rather than dramatic gains but says the town's transport links and housing stock make it resilient.

"Markets that hold steady in flat conditions tend to move quickly when sentiment turns," he said. "At this price it remains within reach for buyers shut out of Manchester's pricier postcodes."

St Helens, Merseyside

St Helens produced what Mr Rolande describes as his most convincing signal: official prices up 7.7 per cent, to £184,470, alongside an 18 per cent rise in Rightmove's first-time buyer asking prices, to £133,106.

"When two separate measures move the same way, that is the signal I trust most," he said. "It has the makings of a market that keeps moving rather than one having a single good year."

Preston, Lancashire

Preston recorded the strongest official growth of the six, with average prices rising 10.6 per cent over the year to £190,442 - among the highest rates anywhere in England.

"Preston is no commuter afterthought," Mr Rolande said. "It has a real employment base of its own and a large student population, and a settled rental market gives plenty of renters a reason to buy once the sums tip that way. I think the rise has further to go."

Sunderland, Tyne and Wear

The cheapest town on the list, with an average price of £145,293 and growth of 6.0 per cent in the year to April. Sunderland sits within the North East, the region that recorded England's strongest house price growth over the year at 9.9 per cent.

"A price under £150,000 with that kind of regional momentum behind it is hard for a first-time buyer to overlook - and harder still to find anywhere else," Mr Rolande said.

Mr Rolande cautioned that the affordability attracting buyers is also easily lost.

"It goes quickly if prices outrun local wages or too few homes come up for sale,” he said. “But on the evidence in front of me, Bridlington looks less like an outlier than the first name on a longer list."