The towns where house prices haven't recovered since 2007

The research compared average house prices in June 2007 and June 2017* in more than 60 major towns and cities in England and Wales. Almost 1.5 million property transactions were completed in 2007 when property prices reached peak levels, just before the financial crisis.

The research revealed that in more than a quarter (28%) of those towns and cities, average property prices today are still below 2007 values. The worst affected towns are Blackpool (15.3%) and Sunderland (13.3%), where average house prices remain more than 10% below pre-crash highs.

More than a third of the 17 towns and cities where average property prices are still lower today than they were a decade ago, are in the North West. During the same period, average London prices have risen a staggering 69%.

The following table shows the 17 UK towns and cities where average property prices today are still below 2007 levels.

Biggest risers

House price recovery over the past 10 years has been much stronger in the South and East than the North of England. As you might expect, London’s house prices have outperformed any other UK town or city, with average prices more than two thirds or almost £200,000 higher than 2007 levels.

Cambridge house price growth is hot on the Capital’s heels. with average property prices now 64.5%, or more than £170,000, higher than average prices a decade ago, just before the global financial crisis.

Alex Gosling, CEO of online estate agents HouseSimple.com comments: "The last 10 years has been a golden period for many UK homeowners who have sat back and watched the value of their homes rise to record levels. Unfortunately, there are pockets of the UK where property prices have been literally stuck in the past. Many of these homeowners will have been in negative equity for a decade.

It must be galling for anyone who bought a property ten years ago, at the top of the market, and are sitting in a home that is still worth less today than it was when they bought it pre-2008. Worse still, any hope they have of drawing a line under their misfortune, and moving on, is most likely on pause as selling up would mean losing money. Finding the funds for a house deposit is difficult enough without having to cover losses on a house sale as well."