How much have house prices risen near YOU since Covid? Our map reveals biggest ... trends now

The last four years have thrown all manner of madness at the housing market.

First, Covid and successive lockdowns sent house prices into an unexpected boom.

The so-called 'race for space' and rise of working from home combined with a stamp duty holiday and rock-bottom mortgage rates to create the perfect environment for prices to rise.

In just two and half years between March 2020 and September 2022 the value of the average property rose by more than 24 per cent across the UK, according to Land Registry data.

But then it all changed. Double-digit inflation sent interest rates hurtling upwards to levels not seen since the 2008 financial crisis.

Rates shot up meaning buyers could no longer purchase with a mortgage fixed at one or two per cent, and instead were faced with rates of five or six per cent. 

However, while house prices were widely expected to crash, they didn't. Instead, they plateaued.

Between September 2022 and February 2024, the latest Land Registry figures show that the average UK home fell from £288,901 to £280,660, a 2.85 per cent fall.

Not every area will have followed the same pattern, though. Some local areas have seen prices surge far more than the UK average over the past four years, while other locations have seen prices fall.

Thanks to analysis by the property firm, Hamptons, we are able to reveal the ten local authority areas that have seen the biggest property price booms since March 2020, when the first lockdown began.

Hamptons also revealed the 10 local authorities where prices have performed the worst.

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons said: 'Most of the top performing areas are in the North of England which is what we would expect to see in the second half of the house price cycle where typically prices in the North are catching up with the South. 

'Some of these areas haven't seen prices fall either. In fact they've continued rising even amid higher mortgage rates.

'In contrast, the bottom performing areas are dominated by London boroughs. In reality, prices in some central London locations actually peaked between 2015 and 2016.'

The house price winners since Covid

The top performing local authority for house price growth since the start of Covid is Rossendale in Lancashire.

There, average prices have risen by 48 per cent since March 2020, going from £142,997 to £212,796.

Rossendale has a population of just over 69,000 and covers around 4.8 per cent of Lancashire. There are four main towns that are driving home buyer interest: Rawtenstall, Haslingden, Bacup and Whitworth.

Graham Shuttleworth, manager at Ryder & Dutton estate agents in the town of Rawtenstall previously told This is Money that the area was benefitting from the house price ripple effect coming out of Manchester, as well as millions of pounds of investment coming into the area from the Government's levelling up scheme. 

Blaenau Gwent in Wales is another riser, having seen average prices rise by 41 per cent since March 2020. The area covers the south eastern part of Wales and major towns include Tredegar, Abertillery and Ebbw Vale.

Meanwhile, prices on the Orkney Islands in Scotland have risen 40 per cent.

The islands off the north east coast of Scotland saw house prices rise to a peak of £218,927 in July 2022, but they have since fallen by 9 per cent to £198,397.

House prices growing in North West England 

Six of the remaining top 10 local authorities for house price growth are based in the North West of England. These are Manchester, Liverpool, Bolton, Rochdale, Oldham and St Helens.

Liverpool and Manchester have been two of the strongest-performing cities for house price growth for some time now.

House prices in Liverpool have risen by more than 55 per cent over the past eight years while in Manchester, prices are up by more than 65 per cent during that time.

The towns of Bolton, Oldham and Rochdale are all part of Greater Manchester, while St Helens is just west of Liverpool. 

Rossendale, the town that took the number one spot, lies immediately to the north of Greater Manchester in Lancashire. 

Jason Harris-Cohen, chief executive of property buying firm Open Property Group said: 'Manchester has certainly cemented its position as the nation's 'second city' and the Manchester property market has been the strongest performing of all major cities in recent years. 

'Of course, this popularity does come at a cost and not only have house prices increased considerably, but the average cost of a home also sits far higher than the surrounding areas.

'As is often the case, this high cost of homeownership has driven many buyers to look to these more affordable pockets of the market in order to climb the ladder while remaining within reach of Manchester.

'The result is a ripple effect of market activity that has also helped to cultivate strong house price growth in surrounding areas such as Rossendale, Bolton, Rochdale and Oldham.'

South Hams in Devon also makes the top 10 list. The area is home to

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