2010 Property Rich List

- The definitive guide to Britain's most exclusive addresses -

  • W8 named UK's most expensive postcode with average house prices of £1.5m

  • Most expensive street, Kensington Palace Gardens, home to country's richest

  • Almost 2,000 (1,995) streets with average property prices over £1 million

  • London unsurprisingly most expensive area, NE Lincolnshire least expensive

Britain's Property Rich List 2010, released today by leading property website Zoopla.co.uk, reveals the W8 area of London (Kensington) at the top of the Most Expensive Postcodes in the country, with average house prices in this exclusive neighbourhood now topping £1.5 million, up 9.4% (£134,000) from just one year ago.

And, once again, topping the list of the Most Expensive Streets in the country is Kensington Palace Gardens, where the average property will set you back a cool £18 million. Also known as Billionaires Row, this exclusive gated street is home to royals from Saudi and Brunei and billionaires from Russia and India, including Britain's richest man, steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal.

As expected, London dominates the rankings as property prices in the capital have rebounded sharply over the past year and are now well up from the 2008 lows. Virginia Water in Surrey, where the average property is now worth £920,000, is the only area outside London to make the Top 10 Most Expensive Postcodes.

In addition to W8 (Kensington), only four other areas in the country can lay claim to being Million Pound Postcodes - SW7 (Knightsbridge) and SW3 (Chelsea) where average house prices are just under £1.3 million, W11 (Notting Hill) where buying the average property will leave you with a few quid change from £1.2 million and SW10 (West Brompton) where the average pad will cost you just over £1million.

The number of Golden Streets, where average home values are over £1m, now stands at 1,995, with the vast majority (1,418) located in London. Outside the capital, the places with the highest number of Golden Streets are Guildford (47), Richmond (44) and Leatherhead (40) according to Zoopla.co.uk, which provides free value estimates for every home in the UK.

Outside London, topping the list of Most Expensive Areas to live are Windsor & Maidenhead where average property prices are now £393,000 followed by South Gloucestershire (£367,000) and Surrey (£348,000). At the other end of the scale, North East Lincolnshire and Hartlepool lead the list of Britain's Least Expensive Areas with average house prices of under £120,000.

Nick Leeming, Commercial Director, Zoopla.co.uk said: "As a nation we're obsessed with property values and our latest Property Rich List once again lifts the lid on the most exclusive places in the country to live. The past 12 months has seen house prices in the leading areas of the country rebound at a far faster rate than the average, contributing to a widening of the North-South divide."

Top 10 Most Expensive Postcodes

Rank

Postcode

Avg. Value May 2010

12 month change (£)

12 month change (%)

1

W8 (Kensington)

£1,553,770

+£133,601

+9.41%

2

SW3 (Chelsea)

£1,292,193

+£132,578

+11.43%

3

SW7 (Knightsbridge)

£1,285,834

+£123,301

+10.61%

4

W11 (Notting Hill)

£1,093,591

+£95,851

+9.61%

5

SW10 (West Brompton)

£1,019,443

+£83,323

+8.90%

6

GU25 (Virginia Water)

£920,138

+£74,457

+8.80%

7

SW13 (Barnes)

£893,884

+£77,884

+9.55%

8

NW3 (Hampstead)

£881,392

+£67,235

+8.26%

9

NW8 (St John's Wood)

£831,362

+£55,072

+7.09%

10

SW5 (Earl's Court)

£782,518

+£76,497

+10.84%

Source: Zoopla.co.uk

Top 10 Most Expensive Streets

Rank

Street

Average Value May 2010

1

Kensington Palace Gardens, W8

£18,236,243

2

The Boltons, London SW10

£10,738,899

3

Frognal Way, London NW3

£10,372,022

4

Compton Avenue, London N6

£7,034,621

5

Courtenay Avenue, London N6

£6,724,397

6

Cottesmore Gardens, London W8

£6,241,219

7

Victoria Road, London W8

£5,814,461

8

Park Place Villas, London W2

£5,791,165

9

Mulberry Walk, London SW3

£5,713,701

10

Carlyle Square, London SW3

£5,644,362

Source: Zoopla.co.uk

Top 10 Most Expensive Areas

Rank

Area

Avg. Value May 2010

12 month change (£)

12 month change (%)

1

London

£400,813

+£32,465

+8.81%

2

Windsor & Maidenhead

£392,825

+£17,937

+4.78%

3

South Gloucestershire

£366,651

+£31,548

+9.41%

4

Surrey

£347,825

+£23,015

+7.09%

5

West Berkshire

£326,493

+£24,026

+7.94%

6

Hertfordshire

£304,166

+£18,964

+6.65%

7

Oxfordshire

£298,648

+£27,868

+10.29%

8

Buckinghamshire

£282,263

+£14,359

+5.36%

9

Bath & N E Somerset

£277,614

+£16,824

+6.45%

10

Berkshire

£270,022

+£18,302

+7.27%

Source: Zoopla.co.uk

Top 10 Least Expensive Areas

Rank

Area

Avg. Value May 2010

12 month change (£)

12 month change (%)

1

North East Lincolnshire

£118,373

+£5,235

+4.63%

2

Hartlepool

£119,577

+£3,064

+2.63%

3

North Lincolnshire

£124,505

+£5,298

+4.44%

4

Durham

£130,612

+£1,976

+1.54%

5

East Riding of Yorkshire

£132,917

+£4,554

+3.55%

6

Nottinghamshire

£135,049

+£2,614

+1.97%

7

South Yorkshire

£136,065

+£3,138

+2.36%

8

Merseyside

£137,964

+£2,808

+2.08%

9

Lancashire

£144,746

+£3,023

+2.13%

10

Tyne & Wear

£147,729

+£8,904

+6.41%

Source: Zoopla.co.uk

The full Zoopla.co.uk Property Rich List 2010

- Ends -

About Zoopla

Hello. We're Zoopla. A property website and app.

We know you're not just looking for a place to live. You're looking for a home.

Yeah, we've got over a million properties for you to browse.

Tools that let you filter them in all kinds of clever ways.

And reliable house price estimates, so you can be sure you aren't paying over the odds.

But we know you're looking for more than that.

Because that first flat won't just be a 'great investment opportunity'.

It'll be the feeling of starting out on your own.

That extra bedroom won't just mean another £20K on the re-sale price, it'll mean having your sister over to stay.

And that bungalow won't just be a way to release some equity, it will be a chance to spend more time with the grandkids.

We know that searching for a home is about more than just checking its price, location and features (important as all those things are).

What really matters is how it makes you feel.

We know what a home is really worth.

So let us help you find yours.

Zoopla is part of Zoopla Limited which was founded in 2007.

Zoopla Limited, The Cooperage, 5 Copper Row, London, SE1 2LH Registered in England and Wales with Company No. 06074771 VAT Registration number: 191 2231 33 Data Protection number: Z9972266

Recent releases

Loading recent releases…