FOUR areas of south Essex have been highlighted as the best places in the UK to invest in property.

New research shows the UK areas with the highest increase in property prices in the past decade, with two areas of Essex seeing growth of more than 106 per cent.

The study analysed data from the Office for National Statistics to discover which area saw the highest increase in house prices and therefore provides the highest return on investment.

The analysis, conducted by the investment review platform Investment Review, revealed Thurrock as the Essex town with the biggest return on investment for property, closely followed by Rochford. The towns saw the sixth and seventh biggest increase nationally in the ten-year period, while Basildon and Castle Point also made the top ten.

For news updates straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Average house prices in south Essex

The average house price in Thurrock is currently £339,281 whereas a decade ago the average house price was £164,373, representing an increase of just over 106 per cent.

It’s a similar picture in Rochford, where the average house price has risen from £216,722 to £446,876 in the ten-year period.

Basildon is the town with the third highest rise in property in Essex, and the eighth highest rise nationwide. The average house price ten years ago was £189,329 and today it is £389,328, which means house prices in Basildon have increased by more than 105 per cent.

Echo:

Castle Point, where house prices have increased by more than 103 per cent in the last decade, is the last Essex area in the national top ten. In the last ten years, the average house price there has climbed from £191,182 to £388,771.

Which UK towns and cities have the lowest house price growth?

At the other end of the scale, Aberdeen in Scotland is the UK area which has seen the lowest return on investment in property, being the only area where house prices have fallen.

Several London boroughs have also seen significantly less growth, including Kensington and Chelsea where house prices have risen by just under 20 per cent in the last ten years, and the City of Westminster where house prices have climbed by around 24 per cent.