Sweltering in London during the heatwave, you’d be forgiven for fantasising about buying a home by the sea. Rightmove, fortunately, has crunched the numbers on this, revealing the best and worst-value coastal locations for buyers.
Unsurprisingly, seaside towns in the south of England are pricier, with Sandbanks yet again topping the list as the UK’s most expensive coastal town.
Saltcoats in Ayrshire, on the other hand, is the most affordable coastal town, with Scotland the north of England representing better value for buyers.
The UK’s most expensive seaside towns
The UK’s top 10 most expensive coastal locations are all concentrated on the south coast of England, with the top two spots both in Poole, Dorset.
In Sandbanks, the average asking price for a property is now £1,282,565, making it the only seaside spot in the country where prices exceed the £1 million mark, and more than three times more expensive than the average UK property (£378,240). Even so, this represents a three per cent price reduction from last year.
Sandbanks has long established itself as the UK’s priciest seaside spot, proving popular with celebrities for its upscale restaurants and nightlife. Harry Redknapp, Karl Pilkington and Liam Gallagher, for example, are all said to own homes in the town.
Canford Cliffs, less than two miles away from Sandbanks, is the second most expensive seaside town in which to buy a property. Here, the average asking price for a home is £974,635, down nine per cent on last year’s prices.
Third place, meanwhile, goes to pretty Milford-on-Sea, in Hampshire. Properties cost an average of £728,460.
Prices, though, are going down. Rightmove’s data has found that across the top 50 most expensive coastal areas, the average asking price has dropped by one per cent — despite buyer demand having risen by eight per cent compared to 2024.
|
Seaside town |
Average asking price (June 2025) |
|
Sandbanks, Poole |
£1,282,565 |
|
Canford Cliffs, Poole |
£974,635 |
|
Milford-on-Sea, Hampshire |
£728,460 |
|
Lymington, Hampshire |
£639,316 |
|
Budleigh Salterton, Devon |
£535,761 |
|
St. Ives, Cornwall |
£507,139 |
|
Dartmouth, Devon |
£500,006 |
|
Sidmouth, Devon |
£494,811 |
|
Whitstable, Kent |
£469,586 |
|
Hythe, Kent |
£466,898 |
The most affordable coastal areas
Buyers looking for a more affordable seaside home should look north, Rightmove’s data suggests. Saltcoats in Ayrshire has the lowest property prices, at £122,208. This is less than a third of the price of the average UK property, at £378,240.
The town, on Scotland’s west coast, is named after its earlier salt panning industry, which was established in the 1500s. It is known for its harbour and wide, sandy beaches.
Peterlee, on the Durham coast, has the second-lowest property prices, at £122,246, followed by Ashington in Northumberland (£135,050) and Bootle, Merseyside (£135,208).
These towns, however, have seen greater price growth over the past year than those in the south. Property prices in Saltcoats, for example, are up 13 per cent, while Peterlee, Ashington and Bootle have seen six, four and three per cent increases respectively.
|
Seaside town |
Average asking price |
|
Saltcoats, Ayrshire |
£122,208 |
|
Peterlee, County Durham |
£122,246 |
|
Ashington, Northumberland |
£135,050 |
|
Bootle, Merseyside |
£135,208 |
|
Grimsby, Lincolnshire |
£142,072 |
|
Blackpool, Lancashire |
£142,804 |
|
Fleetwood, Lancashire |
£148,101 |
|
Birkenhead, Merseyside |
£149,527 |
|
Blyth, Northumberland |
£153,487 |
|
Workington, Cumbria |
£158,956 |
“Sandbanks now stands out as the only seaside spot with an average asking price of over the million-pound mark,” says Colleen Babcock, property expert at Rightmove.
“By contrast, lower-priced seaside spots like Saltcoats and Peterlee offer home-movers a sea view at a fraction of the price, with average asking prices over a quarter of a million pounds below the national average.”