Education and pay come out on top
New data which looks at seven key data sets surrounding property and living standards, has revealed London’s top selling points and where it is excelling in comparison to the rest of the UK.
Research carried out by online home buying company We Buy Any Home looked at the key selling points of 26 UK cities to find out which city is the most desirable for buyers and offer the best conditions for sellers to get a good price.
So how did London get on?
Overall, the capital ranked 15th in the Index, thanks to a mixed bag of results, revealing that the city is excelling in a number of areas, but is in need of improvement in others.
For example, the city excelled when it came to education, finishing first in terms of the number of outstanding rated OFSTED schools present in a city. It also topped the list when it came to the average wage paid (£35,072), with London pay packets containing more than £10,000 more than the national average.
The opportunity to earn more and the range of prospects in the business capital of Europe, as well as the culture hotspots of Camden market and Spitalfields plus the tourist attractions that a big city offers means London has many selling points.
Unfortunately, being the largest city in the country, London is also prone to housing the more negative aspects of city life as well. Higher crime rates and house prices are to be expected in a city that is home to over eight million people.
It also has an average sale time of 111 days, meaning it can take a while for sellers to get moving.
The index took into account seven key data sets in order to determine the overall ranking of all 26 cities. London was ranked a modest 15th with the following data:
| Key Data Sets | Position in Index for particular data set | Research Findings |
| Average wages | 1st | £35,072 |
| Number of outstanding rated OFSTED schools | 1st | 84 |
| Employment rate | 8th | 73.8% |
| The A&E target ratings of the local NHS Trust | 12th | 87.9% |
| Average sale time | 23rd | 111 days |
| Burglary rate | 25th | 8.86 per 1000 |
| Average house prices | 26th | £743,953 |
You can take a look at the full rankings according to the index below:
1. Bristol
2. Southampton
3. Cambridge
4. Stoke on Trent
5. Edinburgh
6. Glasgow
7. Newcastle
8. Plymouth
9. Birmingham
10. Manchester
11. Derby
12. Portsmouth
13. Norwich
14. Sheffield
15. London
16. Leeds
17. Brighton
18. Leicester
19. Bath
20. Liverpool
21. Hull
22. Nottingham
23. Middlesbrough
24. Cardiff
25. Swansea
26. Belfast
Elliot Castle, founder and CEO at We Buy Any Home, has commented on the statistics:
“With the new year upon us, bringing with it the attractive prospect of a new start, we wanted to highlight the areas of the country which are the most desirable for buyers and offer the best conditions for sellers to get a good price.
“We wanted to make our index as comprehensive as possible and took into consideration a variety of factors that really matter to both buyers and sellers. London scored very well in some areas and struggled in others, but overall offers a good quality of living in several areas. The capital has been a popular region for property, and it looks like this trend is likely to continue.”
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