Newport and Hull UK's most affordable university towns

The most affordable university towns in the UK for housing are Newport (where the University of Wales is based) and Hull (the centre for Hull University as well as catering for the University of Lincoln), according to the Lloyds Banking Group University Town House Price Review. In both of these towns the average house price to earnings ratio was 3.3 in 2009 quarter two. The next most affordable university towns are Bradford, Durham, Plymouth, Pontypridd and Middlesborough; the house price to average earnings ratio is below the national long-term historical average of 4.0 in all five towns.

Average house prices in university towns in the Top 20 of the Times Good University Guide 2009 increased by 117% between June 1999 and June 2009; this is slightly ahead of the UK average house price rise of 113% during the same period. The highest house price growth was in Bath (194%), Exeter (188%), Cambridge (163%), Lancaster (143%) and Edinburgh (142%). Nineteen of the 20 towns recorded average price growth in the past decade of at least 104%. Outside the Top 20, the biggest price increase was in Brighton and Hove (197%).

The growth in the number university places for students, the extension of university status to former colleges of higher education and the economic benefits they have brought has helped to boost local housing markets. Just over 90% of university towns in the survey (57 towns out of 62) have seen average house prices at least double over the past decade.

Nitesh Patel, housing economist at Lloyds TSB, commented: "In the past decade 90% of the UK's university towns have seen house prices at least double. The number of full time students has increased by a quarter to 1.48 million in 2008 over this period, boosting the demand for property.

With student numbers set to increase further over the next few years, there will be further pressure to increase student accommodation. This has already led to the increased development of purpose built student housing, which should take some of the weight off the local housing market."