Stockport 3rd in best places to live in the UK

Stockport, Chester and Crewe in the North West have dominated Property Week’s research into the best places to live in the UK.

Making a decision on where to live involves a huge number of variables. But according to new research commissioned by Property Week, a trade magazine, the North West is the big winner.

Stockport moved 15 places up the table of best places to live in the UK, into 3rd position, just behind Chester and Crewe.

The exclusive data is published just days ahead of RESI, the UK’s biggest property conference, which is set to be attended by new housing minister Gavin Barwell, London deputy mayor James Murray and former chancellor Nigel Lawson.

Crewe, Chester and Stockport top the UK table, as great neighbourhoods and access to jobs. are among the best-ranked features.

Liz Hamson, editor of Property Week, said: “Some people like to perpetuate the myth that London is the only place to live. As someone currently enjoying the resurgence of interest in Margate, I know first hand this is far from true and it’s fantastic that this independent research has highlighted the wide variety of great places to live.”

As debates rage over grammar schools and Brexit, many people have put off the decision to move house. But when we do, for most of us, the main consideration we make is being able to afford the mortgage, as well as the range of amenities.

The question is: which UK town or city rules the roost as the best place to live in 2016? Property Week asked location specialist CACI to draw up a list of the most desirable locations, best places to live in the UK, based on value for money – drawn from both prices and average incomes – and the overall quality of life in an area.

Now in its second year, Property Week’s Hot Housing Index assesses local employment levels, amenities, schools and connectivity to the internet. This year, they also assessed accessibility to public transport for the first time.

The research reveals that the average property price across the whole of the UK is more than six times the average household income.

Generally speaking, the top 50 is dominated by areas outside the south of England.

2016 Rank	2015 Rank	Town	District	Region	Score	Affordability Index	Employability Index	Internet Connectivity	School Provision	Local Amenities	Public Transport Accessibility
1	3	CREWE	Cheshire East	North West	74.3%	C	B	C	A	A	B
2	1	CHESTER	Cheshire West and Chester	North West	71.7%	C	B	D	A	A	A
3	18	STOCKPORT	Stockport	North West	71.5%	C	C	A	A	A	A
4	15	HARROGATE	Harrogate	Yorkshire and The Humber	71.2%	D	A	D	A	A	C
5	6	EDINBURGH	Edinburgh, City of	Scotland	70.9%	C	C	A	A	A	A
6	10	HAMILTON	South Lanarkshire	Scotland	70.6%	A	D	A	A	A	A
7	2	BEVERLEY	East Riding of Yorkshire	Yorkshire and The Humber	69.4%	B	B	E	A	A	B
8	5	WARRINGTON	Warrington	North West	68.9%	B	C	C	A	B	B
9	4	INVERURIE	Aberdeenshire	Scotland	68.5%	C	A	E	A	B	B
10	8	DEVIZES	Wiltshire	South West	68.3%	D	B	D	A	A	B
11	n/a	SALE	Trafford	North West	68.2%	D	C	B	A	A	B
12	7	BRISTOL	South Gloucestershire	South West	67.2%	D	B	C	A	B	B
13	20	PERTH	Perth & Kinross	Scotland	66.7%	C	B	D	A	B	A
14	13	CHORLEY	Chorley	North West	66.4%	A	B	C	B	D	B
15	24	LIVERPOOL	Sefton	North West	66.2%	B	D	A	A	A	A
16	n/a	SOLIHULL	Solihull	West Midlands	66.2%	C	C	A	B	B	B
17	14	GLASGOW	East Dunbartonshire	Scotland	66.2%	B	B	A	C	D	B
18	25	BURY	Bury	North West	66.0%	A	C	C	B	B	B
19	34	LEYLAND	South Ribble	North West	65.6%	A	A	B	C	E	B
20	n/a	NOTTINGHAM	Rushcliffe	East Midlands	65.3%	C	A	A	D	D	C
21	28	LIVINGSTON	West Lothian	Scotland	65.2%	A	D	B	B	C	A
22	30	PAISLEY	Renfrewshire	Scotland	65.0%	A	D	A	B	B	A
23	37	SHREWSBURY	Shropshire	West Midlands	65.0%	C	A	E	A	A	B
24	31	KIRKCALDY	Fife	Scotland	65.0%	A	D	C	A	A	A
25	23	LEEDS	Leeds	Yorkshire and The Humber	64.9%	B	D	B	A	A	A
26	9	SWANSEA	Swansea	Wales	64.4%	B	C	B	A	B	B
27	19	DURHAM	County Durham	North East	64.3%	A	D	D	A	A	A
28	n/a	ST. ALBANS	St Albans	East of England	63.9%	E	A	A	B	B	C
29	33	STAFFORD	Stafford	West Midlands	63.7%	B	B	B	C	C	C
30	17	BEDFORD	Central Bedfordshire	East of England	63.6%	C	B	B	A	B	B
31	21	CLEVEDON	North Somerset	South West	63.3%	C	B	D	B	B	C
32	43	AIRDRIE	North Lanarkshire	Scotland	63.2%	A	E	A	A	B	A
33	27	BOLTON	Bolton	North West	63.0%	A	E	A	A	B	A
34	n/a	HUDDERSFIELD	Kirklees	Yorkshire and The Humber	62.9%	A	D	C	A	A	A
35	16	ABERDEEN	Aberdeen City	Scotland	62.9%	C	B	E	B	A	A
36	n/a	STRATFORD-UPON-AVON	Stratford-on-Avon	West Midlands	62.8%	D	A	E	B	C	E
37	n/a	WARE	East Hertfordshire	East of England	62.8%	E	A	C	B	B	C
38	41	CARDIFF	Cardiff	Wales	62.7%	C	D	C	A	A	A
39	n/a	THIRSK	Hambleton	Yorkshire and The Humber	62.5%	C	A	D	B	D	E
40	36	STIRLING	Stirling	Scotland	62.4%	B	C	D	C	C	B
41	22	PRENTON	Wirral	North West	62.4%	B	E	D	A	A	A
42	29	MORPETH	Northumberland	North East	62.4%	B	C	E	A	A	B
43	n/a	WIGAN	Wigan	North West	62.3%	A	D	A	A	A	A
44	n/a	KENDAL	South Lakeland	North West	62.3%	C	A	E	B	B	D
45	32	READING	West Berkshire	South East	62.2%	C	A	E	B	C	D
46	26	STOCKTON-ON-TEES	Stockton-on-Tees	North East	62.1%	A	E	A	B	B	B
47	42	AYLESBURY	Aylesbury Vale	South East	61.8%	D	B	D	A	C	C
48	n/a	LEAMINGTON SPA	Warwick	West Midlands	61.7%	D	B	B	C	B	B
49	n/a	YORK	York	Yorkshire and The Humber	61.6%	C	B	E	C	A	B
50	40	WOKINGHAM	Wokingham	South East	61.3%	D	A	C	B	D	D

Due to the extremely high property prices in London, a separate ranking for the capital has been created. Every single London borough scored very low on affordability compared with other parts of the UK, meaning that if the entire country were treated as one ranking, the capital wouldn’t feature in the top 50 at all.

2016 Rank	2015 Rank	District	Region	Score	Affordability Index	Employability Index	Internet Connectivity	School Provision	Local Amenities	Public Transport Accessibility
1	3	Bromley	London	61.6%	E	C	A	A	A	A
2	1	Barnet	London	60.7%	E	C	C	A	A	A
3	16	Richmond upon Thames	London	60.2%	E	A	B	C	A	A
4	4	Wandsworth	London	59.7%	E	C	C	B	A	A
5	n/a	Kingston upon Thames	London	57.0%	E	B	A	D	A	B
6	6	Sutton	London	53.8%	E	C	A	C	B	A
7	5	Lambeth	London	51.8%	E	E	C	A	A	A
8	11	Camden	London	51.8%	E	D	E	C	A	A
9	14	Westminster	London	51.6%	E	C	E	C	A	A
10	2	Croydon	London	51.5%	E	E	B	A	A	A
11	10	Haringey	London	50.7%	E	E	B	B	A	A
12	15	Hammersmith and Fulham	London	50.4%	E	D	D	C	A	A
13	n/a	Havering	London	50.3%	E	C	A	B	A	A
14	8	Bexley	London	49.5%	D	C	B	B	B	A
15	12	Ealing	London	49.1%	E	E	C	A	A	A
16	n/a	Hillingdon	London	48.9%	E	D	B	A	A	A
17	19	Harrow	London	48.7%	E	C	B	C	B	A
18	n/a	Merton	London	48.6%	E	C	A	C	B	A
19	20	Kensington and Chelsea	London	48.6%	E	C	D	D	A	A
20	n/a	City of London	London	48.0%	E	B	E	E	A	C

Unsurprisingly, housing affordability is a major issue in the capital, with only one borough (Bexley) in the top 20 scoring above E.

What’s more, the situation has worsened in the last year. Escalating prices mean that even Croydon now scores poorly when it comes to affordability, with the result that the borough’s position on the league table has slipped from second in 2015 to 10th this year. The fact that employment levels in Croydon have fallen in the last year is also a contributing factor.

The most notable climber on the London ranking is Richmond upon Thames, which has moved from 16th last year to third in the London ranking.

While affordability and schools provision remain issues for the area, employment levels have improved markedly, moving from a D to an A grade. In contrast to the national league table, the inclusion of a metric covering access to public transport in the methodology this year hasn’t had a huge impact on the London rankings.

Most areas of the capital are well served by public transport, although Kingston upon Thames is let down by its lack of fast services into central London.

Stockport 3rd in best places to live in the UK

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