Lancaster's property hotspot: the city's most expensive neighbourhood revealed

The UK property market has had a turbulent few years – with a boom in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, followed by a slowdown amid rising interest rates and inflation.

New figures from the Office for National Statistics show where properties are likely to set you back the most in Lancaster, and where you could snap up a bargain.

The University and Scotforth Rural neighbourhood was Lancaster's priciest, with a median value of £470,000 among the six sales in the area last calendar year.

The next most expensive was the Silverdale area, where a house could set you back £377,750, and Upper Lune Valley, which had a median price of £335,000 in 2022.

Meanwhile, the Poulton neighbourhood saw the lowest house prices, with buyers paying an average of £117,975 across 74 sales last year.

This was followed by Heysham North and Skerton East, where buyers spent £136,750 and £139,500 respectively.

Across the country, property sales have slowed significantly in the past year.

Richard Donnell, executive director of research at the property search website Zoopla, said: "The increase in mortgage rates is having a bigger impact on the number of sales rather than house prices so far."

Recent research by the company suggests sellers are shaving off more than five per cent of the original asking price.

"There are big regional variations with market activity holding up better in Scotland, the North East and London while sales have increased more slowly in England regions across the south of England.

"House prices are starting to post small falls in higher value markets where average values are over £400,000 – in more affordable markets prices are still rising year on year, albeit at much slower rates than a year ago."

There were 700,000 sales across England and Wales in the year to December 2021 – down from a recent peak of more than 1.1 million in the year to September 2021.

Overall, house prices have remained steady, with a median price of £280,000 last year – a £5,000 increase on the year before.

In Lancaster, the average house cost £185,000 in 2022 – up from £179,950 a year before.

The number of properties sold dropped, from 2,771 in 2021 to 1,935 last year.