BRAINTREE has made it into the top five of the UK’s house price hotspots for 2021.

Taunton, in Somerset, took the top spot with property values there increasing at more than three times the national average rate.

Braintree comes in at number five with the average house price now £356,216, up £54,236 or 18 per cent in a year.

Average house prices in Taunton rose by more than a fifth compared to a 6.2 per cent increase across the UK generally, the Halifax said.

Prices there rose to an average of £381,181 – marking an increase of £58,322 since 2020.

Nowhere in London appeared in the top 20 hotspots list with Westminster in central London recording the biggest fall of any area, with average house prices there down by 6.9 per cent.

Halifax managing director Russell Galley said: “It is rare that no London boroughs appear amongst the areas of highest house price growth but that is the case in 2021.

“This shift echoes what we have seen from home-buyers over the last year – less focus on major cities and more demand in the suburbs and further afield.”