Which areas have the highest rates of crime are seeing the fastest increases in house prices? Where does your area stand?

Compared to areas that benefit from gentrification and buy-to-let, safer areas have higher property prices, but they are growing more slowly

According to recent research, the price of homes is increasing more quickly in towns and cities with higher crime rates. In fact, in some of the UK's most crime-affected areas, property prices are rising at a rate that is more than twice as fast as in the safest areas.

Compared to safer towns, the cost of housing has increased much more quickly in many high-crime areas over the last five years, indicating that people are putting affordability before personal safety.

With only 26 to 39 crimes per 1,000 residents, Poole, Dorset, is officially the safest place in the nation by crime rate. This is a crucial metric for people looking to live in the UK, as average house prices have increased by 15 to 4 percent over the previous five years.

The crime rate in Blackpool, on the other hand, is 80 points per 1,000, and during the same time period, house prices there have risen by 33 points, more than doubling Poole's growth in percentage terms.

The founder of OneDome, which conducted the analysis, Babek Ismayil, stated: "In towns and cities with higher crime rates, affordabilityor rather, the lack of itis driving up prices disproportionately.

People are forced to relocate to towns and cities where they can start their careers because mortgage rates are still high, home prices in desirable neighborhoods are frequently out of reach, and the cost of living crisis is still making household budgets tight.

Where is the fastest rate of increase in home prices?

Over the previous five years, there has been a 34% increase in the average price of homes in the 20 towns and cities with the highest crime rates. This is equivalent to 23.2% of the 20 cities and towns with the lowest rates of crime.

The short-term pain of affordability can lead to long-term gain, according to Ismayil, as people who are priced out of their ideal locations and struggling with affordability move in large numbers to less desirable areas, which raises prices there above average. Since the equity in their homes increases more quickly, affordability may be the solution to many buyers' problems.

In 75 major UK towns and cities, crime and housing prices were analyzed to compare the safest and least safe areas based on the number of reported crimes per 1,000 inhabitants.

The weighted averages of the three main categories of crimeviolent crimes, property and fraud, and public order offenseswere used to determine each location's overall crime rate score.

The data is consistent with a broader and well-established trend known as gentrification, according to mortgage advisers.

"It is merely the process of gentrification occurring at a street, area, and even town and city level," explained Katy Eatenton, mortgage and protection specialist at Lifetime Wealth Management. They frequently have to purchase in less desirable areas, which eventually gain popularity as more people move there. These people are typically first-time buyers with limited borrowing capacity.

"This data demonstrates that, despite the initial higher crime and 'risk', there is a genuine chance to profit from higher house price growth. Naturally, the gentrification process can take a lot longer in some places than in others. Sometimes the process takes a few years, and other times it takes ten.

However, Justin Moy, Managing Director at EHF Mortgages, stated that landlord activity might also be influencing the data.

This investment model may be contributing to some of the data because, for many landlords, the best buy-to-let property returns come from the least safe areas because the rent is comparatively higher and the property is less expensive.