UK House Price Index

In the current economic climate, buying a home for most people is a rather gargantuan task, a lofty goal - it is however a dream a lot of people aspire to achieve. Housing prices have soared over the last few decades, with the rise of inflation, on average property prices are around four times as much as 20 years prior.

Those of you who may have purchased property 20 years ago may be wondering how much your property is worth today. Especially if you've spruced up your home, perhaps with one of our wonderful gas fires or reworked the entire kitchen, it could be worth even more than you think. While others among you might simply be wondering what the price difference is in properties between this year and 20 years prior.

Well, we've got you covered, as we have compiled average property price data from cities across the UK from 2022 all the way back to 2002. We'll be ranking these property prices per city based on the difference as a percentage to show you which cities could be goldmines if you bought them 20 years back.

UK cities with the largest increase in property price

• Manchester

Cost of Property 2022: £210,647 | Cost of Property 2002: £48,845 | Price Difference: 331.26%

Coming out on top is the city of Manchester, up in the North-West of England, with a total price difference of 331.26%. To put that into raw numbers for you, that is a total price increase of £161, 802, based on ONS figures that is more than four times the amount of the average UK salary as of 2021. That is a huge increase, even if it is over two decades. We calculated, using the average annual rate of inflation, that this property cost for Manchester in 2002, would now be £84,549.42. So, even just considering the rate of inflation and not the property market increase, that is almost double the price - meaning if you bought any property in Manchester twenty years ago, you could be sitting on a veritable goldmine.

• Salford

Cost of Property 2022: £197,047 | Cost of Property 2002: £50,567 | Price Difference: 289.68%

Next up on the ranking is the city of Salford, which is a northern neighbour of Manchester, having a total increase in property prices of 289.68% - a notable drop from the previous ranking, but nothing to scoff at. That puts us at two northern cities ranking in the top three, with both cities having a remarkably low cost of entry into property ownership. This seems to be the deciding factor when comparing the northern and southern cities here - the initial cost of property in 2002 is simply higher in the south, for the most part, making buying property in the north more lucrative.

• Leicester

Cost of Property 2022: £220,058 | Cost of Property 2002: £61,232 | Price Difference: 259.38%

Moving a little further south from the great northern cities into the East Midlands, we have Leicester with a 259.38% increase in property prices over the last two decades. The cost of entry at just over £61,000 two decades ago, which still seems approachable by the lofty standards of the current times. Overall, the price difference as a raw monetary figure is £158,826, some £10,000 higher than the Salford difference, however, the initial cost of buying a house in 2002 is also around £10,000 higher, making Leicester slightly less of a deal compared to the two northern cities above.

UK cities with the lowest increase in property price

• Reading

Cost of Property 2022: £315,483 | Cost of Property 2002: £134,404 | Price Difference: 134.73%

Coming in as the lowest price increase for properties in the last two decades we have Reading, a town in Southern England, with just a 134.73% increase - two and a half times worse than Manchester. Reading had the sixth-highest cost for properties in 2002, meaning you had to put in much more money than other locations to see lesser profits. The cost of entry for buying property in 2002 is nearly seven times higher than ONS data for the average salary (£20,376) of that year, to put that into perspective.

• Blackpool

Cost of Property 2022: £127,987 | Cost of Property 2002: £51,676 | Price Difference: 147.67%

Surprisingly for the next ranking, we are coming back up to the north of the country, with the seaside town of Blackpool, in Lancashire. This town saw an increase of just 147.67%, which again is comparatively low, of course. It is interesting to note, that this Northern England location, has a lower entry cost, compared to Reading which is getting on for three times the price of Blackpool's 2002 property pricing.

• Worcester

Cost of Property 2022: £238,742 | Cost of Property 2002: £96,322 | Price Difference: 147.86%

Finally, we turn our attention a little further south once again, to the West Midlands city of Worcester, seeing a price increase of 147.86%, just a little higher than Blackpool prior. So, for the £96,322 you put into a house in Worcester way back in 2002, you could now see a £142,420 profit on that investment. Not bad, per se, but again, it is a rather sizeable investment comparatively and there were simply better prices to be had elsewhere in the country.

Detached properties

The name is pretty self-explanatory, but it is simply a property that is free-standing and not attached to other houses and such. As with all these specific property type rankings, Manchester and Salford stole the show. However, we can say that on average, the property price increase percentage was 196.37% across all locations we looked at.


• Manchester

Cost of a Detached House 2022: £390,388 | Cost of a Detached House 2002: £88,488 | Price Difference: 341.18%

The true property goldmine, Manchester is once again top, the cost of a detached house (always the most expensive housing property) in 2002 was just £88,488, fast forward 20 years and it's had a 341% increase in price.

• Salford

Cost of a Detached House 2022: £372,687 | Cost of a Detached House 2002: £94,174 | Price Difference: 295.74%

A touch more expensive than its neighbour Manchester, to buy a detached house in Salford in 2002 it would have cost £94,174 and over the last two decades that has had a 295% price increase, almost three times the original price.

• Nottingham

Cost of a Detached House 2022: £304,360 | Cost of a Detached House 2002: £84,256 | Price Difference: 261.23%

Nottingham, the Midlands city famous for the legend of Robin Hood, how apt that it should feature here. In 2002 a detached house in this city would cost £84,256 and would stand to increase in price by 261% over two decades, what a steal.

Semi-detached properties

Again, this name is relatively self-explanatory, but semi-detached properties are, for example, houses that share just one wall with another property. The average price increase for this property type across all the locations was 210.09%, the second-highest out of the specific property types we looked at.

• Manchester

Cost of a Semi-detached House 2022: £263,965 | Cost of a Semi-detached House 2002: £57,166 | Price Difference: 361.75%

Manchester once again has a price increase of well over 300%, netting you serious profits on semi-detached properties. The price to entry, back in 2002, was £57,166 which in 2022 equates to a quarter of 1 million and a £206,000 profit.

• Salford

Cost of a Semi-detached House 2022: £237,896 | Cost of a Semi-detached House 2002: £57,378 | Price Difference: 314.61%

Salford had a 314% increase in semi-detached properties between 2002 and 2022, which monetarily would be a profit of over £180,000 approximately three times the amount you'd have paid 20 years ago.

• Bristol

Cost of a Semi-detached House 2022: £414,374 | Cost of a Semi-detached House 2002: £113,111 | Price Difference: 266.34%

The South-west city of Bristol has a sprawling and particular history mostly tied to its ports. Over the last two decades, the city has seen a 266% increase in semi-detached property prices, meaning if you bought in 2002 you could net a £300,000 profit.

Terraced properties

Terraced properties are houses that share walls on both sides of the property - so they're attached to two different houses on either side. Terraced properties were on average the best value for money, as their average increase across all locations was 220.45%.

• Manchester

Price of Terraced Properties 2022: £198,122 | Price of Terraced Properties 2002: £41,533 | Price Difference: 377.02%

This time, there's nearly a profit of four times the original 2002 price for terraced properties in Manchester. That is a profit of around £156,000, which is nothing to scoff at given the initial cost of terraced properties two decades prior.

• Salford

Price of Terraced Properties 2022: £174,732 | Price of Terraced Properties 2002: £40,639 | Price Difference: 329.96%

Salford once again is right behind its northern neighbour, with a 329% price increase over two decades, which translates to a profit of £134,000 approximately.

• Leicester

Price of Terraced Properties 2022: £195,638 | Price of Terraced Properties 2002: £51,956 | Price Difference: 276.55%

The East Midlands city of Leicester comes in third, with a 276% increase in terraced property value. Despite the higher initial expense, compared to the other two in this ranking, property prices have steadily increased, to such that one could expect a profit of around £143,000 on such properties.

Flats and maisonettes

And finally, flats or the more common Americanism "apartments", are self-contained living spaces within a building with many other individual flats. These, on average, were the worst value for money across all the locations we looked at as they only managed a 149.21% price increase, significantly lower than the other specific property types.

• Manchester

Price of Flats and Maisonettes 2022: £179,220 | Price of Flats and Maisonettes 2002: £49,943 | Price Difference: 258.85%

Even for the property type with the worst value for money, Manchester comes out on top, with a 258% price increase from 2002 to 2022. This would net a profit of around £129,000, one might think it more lucrative to rent out the property.

• Salford

Price of Flats and Maisonettes 2022: £153,773 | Price of Flats and Maisonettes 2002: £46,118 | Price Difference: 233.43%

Of course, it's Salford coming in second, netting a 233% increase on flats and maisonettes over the last two decades - really establishing the north of England as a perfect place to buy property.

• Bristol

Price of Flats and Maisonettes 2022: £256,209 | Price of Flats and Maisonettes 2002: £88,462 | Price Difference: 189.63%

And for the final ranking on flats and maisonettes we return to the south, Bristol saw a 189% increase in these properties over two decades, which would indeed net you a profit of £167,000.

Methodology

We built a list of the biggest cities in the UK, some however were cut due to insufficient property data, i.e. only data from the last 10 years being available.

Once the list was formed, we gathered property data for each location using the government's Land Registry data - we took the price for January 2022 (the most recently available data) and then Jan 2002, exactly 20 years prior.

We took the prices for the average piece of property, then also flats, semi-detached, detached and terraced properties, but when ranked, Manchester and Salford dominated every individual property ranking.

We then formed a ranking based on the biggest percentage of increase in property prices. For the top and lowest-ranked locations, we also looked at what those property values from 2002 would be worth today in relation to inflation, using this calculator.

Referenced ONS salary data can be found here.