Property boost for university parents

Figures released by Halifax and the Guardian Education university guide show property prices near some of Britain's universities have more than doubled in five years.

The highest performing university town was Bath where property increased an average of 156% during the period. The lowest performing properties were found in Dundee, representing St Andrews, where the average property increased in value by just 62%.

The average increase in property prices across the UK over the past five years has been 103%, and the majority of these towns and cities have performed very well, with ten out of the 13 university towns outside London outperforming or matching the UK over the same period. Two exceptions, Cambridge and Oxford, nonetheless have still seen a doubling in prices since 1999.

In many cases however, parents may not have held on to properties for five years as many new students usually spend their first year living in halls of residence.

The Halifax says parents are increasingly considering buying investment properties for their sons and daughters to live in while they are at university and the following figures show the increase in property prices that parents could have benefited from over the past five years.

Experts advise that with the slowdown in property prices this year, parent should not expect to see the same performance over the next five years.

Top 20 universities ranked by performance league table

	University/Location	Average Price (£)		Increase
	University/Location	1999	2004	(£)	(%)
1	University of Cambridge	118,405	237,225	118,820	100
2	University of Oxford	141,495	281,670	140,175	99
3	Imperial College London	177,410	288,862	111,452	63
4	School of Oriental & African Studies, London	177,410	288,862	111,452	63
5	London School of Economics	177,410	288,862	111,452	63
6	University College London	177,410	288,862	111,452	63
7	King's College London	177,410	288,862	111,452	63
8	University of York	80,634	185,360	104,726	130
9	University of Warwick	67,576	144,226	76,650	113
10	University of Nottingham	67,765	146,884	79,119	117
11	University of Manchester	61,202	128,786	67,584	110
12	University of Durham	72,010	146,044	74,034	103
13	Aston University Birmingham	67,396	136,946	69,550	103
14	University of St Andrews*	59,868	97,009	37,141	62
15	University of Edinburgh	84,044	179,315	95,271	113
16	University of Bristol	90,808	192,674	101,866	112
17	Royal Holloway University of London	177,410	288,862	111,452	63
18	University of Bath	100,807	258,379	157,572	156
19	Middlesex University	177,410	288,862	111,452	63
20	University of Sheffield	59,629	139,005	79,376	133

Source: Guardian Education university guide, published on 25/05/04

* Dundee house prices used because of small sample size in St Andrews


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