Top 10 emerging property hotspots, according to experts

Kearsney in Kent and Baillieston in Glasgow are among the next top property-buying hotspots, analysis suggests.

In London, there has also been a 71pc surge in interest for homes in East Ham, where the average property sells for £410,990.

Figures compiled by estate agency Hamptons, based on Countrywide data, reveal the top 30 areas in the UK where the number of people registering to buy a home has risen the most over the past year.

According to the data, 12 areas in the South of England saw a rise in popularity, but the majority of areas that saw increased interest were in Scotland, the Midlands, and the North of England.

Aneisha Beveridge, the head of research at Hamptons, said: “Affordability is at the heart of this. There are only five areas on the list where the average price exceeded £400,000 and, typically, these are the more affordable pockets of London and the south-east.

“Generally it’s the more expensive markets that have been hit hardest by the move to higher interest rates. This is because households in these areas tend to have bigger mortgages in pound terms and are therefore more exposed to higher rates.”

The data looked at the total number of people registering to buy a home and how much that metric has risen over the first 11 months of this year compared to the same period in 2022.

Overall, 12pc fewer applicants were registering to buy a home across Great Britain from January to November this year, compared to the same period in 2022.

Average house prices fell by around 1.8pc this year as higher borrowing costs pushed down the number of sales, according to data from building society Nationwide. Prices fell further in southern England at 3.4pc, compared to 1.8pc in the North.

Transactions across the UK were also down 10pc compared to before the pandemic, and prices are now 4.5pc below where they were at the all-time high in the late summer of 2022. The average property price in the UK is now £257,443.