The leafy royal London borough of Kensington and Chelsea has been revealed as the most expensive place in the country to buy a house with the average property in the area costing £1,203,055.

This sky high sum has fallen somewhat in the past year when house prices were £1,351,747 as part of a larger trend that has seen the value of UK properties drop by 0.1 per cent since last year.

The most expensive area of the country to buy a property outside of London is Elmbridge in Surrey with average prices of £705,022.

By contrast, the cheapest area of the country to get a foot on the property ladder is the Lancashire town of Burnley.

In the town, the average price of a property is almost twelve times cheaper than Kensington and Chelsea – costing just £104,626.

How much has the value of YOUR house changed over the last month and year? Use our interactive map to find out. Scroll over your local region to see the current average value, and how much it has changed.

The leafy royal London borough of Kensington and Chelsea has been revealed as the most expensive place in the country to buy a house

The new figures come from the Office for National Statistic’s latest House Price Index which tracks the average value of property in the country each month.

The government claims that if you were to take the complete national average of a property it would be £291,000.

The second most expensive area to buy a property in the UK is the city of Westminster with prices ranging around £967,277.

Also included amongst the most expensive places to live were Camden and the City of London with average prices of £810,578 and £807,475 respectively.

On the other side of the scale, the ten cheapest areas to live in the country are all found north of London.

The cheapest area to live in Wales and the second cheapest overall is Blaenau Gwent with rates around £118,142.

Areas of Scotland, including North Ayrshire and Inverclyde also have low prices, coming in at £126,543 and £131,694 respectively.

Most expensive places to live in the UK

The second most expensive area to buy a property in the UK is the city of Westminster with prices ranging around £967,277

Jonny Magill, Chief Sales Officer at Purplebricks, said: ‘It’s perhaps not surprising that most of the top 10 most expensive places to live are in London according to whole market data – you could buy around a dozen properties in Burnley, with the lowest average property price, for the cost of one in Kensington & Chelsea, by far the most expensive.

‘Although it’s interesting to note that alongside the highest average property price comes a significant drop in value compared to most of the country, so it might not be the best time to buy there – assuming you can afford to do so of course, which many of us can’t.

‘At the lower end of the list are some terrific places to live in England, Scotland and Wales which represent incredibly good value, well below the current UK property average of £291,000, and which haven’t seen as much of a drop in value.

‘While the mortgage market is still tricky and rumours that prices will fall further are not going away, at Purplebricks we believe it’s actually an excellent time to put down roots as long as you don’t spend more than you can afford.’

Least expensive places to live in the UK

Blaenau Gwent is the second least expensive place in the country to buy a house

Meanwhile, more than 70 local areas have bucked the national house price downturn and seen prices rise over the last year, according to Halifax.

Some areas have even seen double digit growth, despite the average UK house price falling 3.9 per cent year-on-year, according to the mortgage lender.

Powys was the top riser, with homeowners in the Wales district seeing their homes go up in value by 17.4 per cent compared to this time last year.

This was despite average prices in Wales falling 3.6 per cent.

East Lindsey, which flanks the east coast of Lincolnshire and includes seaside towns such as Skegness, Ingoldmells and Chapel St Leonards, has recorded annual house price gains of 13.3 per cent.

That’s despite house prices in the East Midlands falling 4 per cent on average.

Moray in Scotland has seen the biggest increase in house prices in Scotland over the last year with typical prices up 10.7 per cent.

That’s despite the average Scottish property falling 0.8 per cent during that time.

The analysis is based on data from the Halifax House Price Index, which looked at typical house prices in more than 300 local authority areas across the UK in the three months up to September this year, and compared them to the equivalent figures from 2022.

While every region in the UK has seen prices fall on average by between 0.2 per cent and 5.7 per cent year-on-year, there are local areas in every region that have bucked the downward trend.

Even in London, where annual prices are down 4.8 per cent, there are pockets of the capital that have seen prices rise significantly, according to Halifax.

Ealing, in West London has recorded average house price gains of 7.5 per cent, according to Halifax, while the City of Westminster and the City of London have seen prices grow by 7.4 per cent equating to an average of £53,108 per property over the past 12 months.

Kim Kinnaird, director of Halifax Mortgages, said: ‘There are multiple factors which can impact house prices in your local area, ranging from the mix of properties available and the extent of any new housing, to the quality of schools and abundance of job opportunities.

‘What’s clear is that the UK housing market is not a single entity that performs in a uniform way across the country, there are differences.

‘While at a national level the current squeeze on mortgage affordability has seen property prices fall over the last year, in many regions there remain pockets of house price growth.

‘While a limited supply of properties for sale could be a factor, this also suggests in some areas, local market activity – and demand among buyers – remains strong.’