More than half of locations to watch are in the north
Durham, Cumberland and Northumberland top the table as the three emerging locations to watch, according to analysis from Muve.
It analysed government data from ONS and HM Land Registry across 313 local authorities in England and Wales, ranking equally affordability, new-build activity, price growth and transaction volume to find the next up-and-coming locations.
County Durham ranked top out of 313 areas, with an average house price of £138,767, well below the national average, alongside 4.7% annual price growth and 39.1% new-build growth over the past two years. This was followed by Cumberland, which rated highly across the board for all categories and Northumberland, which offered the highest life satisfaction score (7.68) and annual house inflation score (5.3%) of the top three hotspots.
Overall, more than half (56%) or 28 of the top 50 emerging areas are in the north of England. However, in the South, Somerset and Suffolk lead, with North Somerset (9th nationally) and West Suffolk (19th) the best-performing in the region.
More than two-thirds (69%) of areas saw a positive increase in house price inflation annually, though growth was heavily concentrated in the North of England and Wales.
New-build and mortgage sale volumes
Birmingham, Leeds and Newham have seen the biggest number of new-build dwellings across the UK, with 8,352, 7,187 and 5,612 completions, respectively, over the past two years.
Birmingham, Leeds and North Yorkshire lead mortgage sale volumes, recording 238, 220 and 165 mortgage-backed sales.
The report cited Hartlepool, Burnley and Blackpool as the best hotspots for affordable housing suitable for first-time buyers, with average prices starting from £129,129.
David Jabbari, CEO of Muve, said: “It’s great to see a diverse range of credible moving locations across the country, from the overall index leader, County Durham, to Birmingham, where the number of new builds popping up creates less competition for homeowners. It’s the combination of both factors that signals genuine opportunity for buyers: somewhere still affordable but with enough new housing being built to suggest that the area is on a developer’s radar, and increasingly on a buyer’s shortlist too.”
| Rank | Area | Emerging Hotspot Index |
| 1 | County Durham | 86.2 |
| 2 | Cumberland | 78.8 |
| 3 | Northumberland | 78.0 |
| 4 | Pendle | 76.7 |
| 5 | Newcastle upon Tyne | 76.3 |
| 6 | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 76.2 |
| 7 | Wigan | 76.2 |
| 8 | Gateshead | 74.9 |
| 9 | North Somerset | 74.4 |
| 10 | City of Kingston upon Hull | 74.3 |
| 11 | North Lincolnshire | 73.1 |
| 12 | North East Lincolnshire | 71.4 |
| 12 | Carmarthenshire | 71.4 |
| 12 | Wirral | 71.4 |
| 15 | Flintshire | 71.3 |
| 16 | Hinckley and Bosworth | 71.2 |
| 17 | Boston | 70.3 |
| 18 | Sefton | 69.6 |
| 19 | West Suffolk | 69.2 |
| 20 | Leeds | 69.2 |
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