U.K.'s Biggest House-Price Jumps Came Outside London Last Year

(Bloomberg) -- An English spa town and two coastal areas saw the biggest house-price increases in the U.K. last year, outstripping gains in London's hotspots.

Cheltenham in southwest England saw a 13 percent jump in prices in 2017, almost five times the national increase of 2.7 percent, Bank of Scotland Plc's Halifax division said Tuesday.  The average house in the town, famous for its annual horse-racing festival, rose to 313,150 pounds ($423,000). 

Bournemouth and Brighton, both on England's south coast, saw the next highest gains, with prices rising more than 11 percent in each.

House-price growth has slowed this year, with London a particular weak spot, thanks to a sluggish economy and a squeeze on consumers in the wake of the vote to leave the European Union. The situation isn't expected to improve soon, with forecasts released last month by Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Nationwide Building Society predicting a broadly flat 2018.

Unlike 2016, “the top performers are not exclusive to London and the southeast,” said Halifax Managing Director Russell Galley.

The top performer in the U.K. capital was the eastern borough of Newham, which had a 10 percent increase. Two of the three areas with the biggest declines were in Scotland: Perth and Paisley. In all, 13 towns ended the year with lower prices.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net, Andrew Blackman, Randall Woods

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