Landlords looking mostly long-term capital appreciation rather than yields may have to invest in an unlikely location which topped a league table from finance company IVA Advice.

Its analysis of government data from the Office for National Statistics shows that the Outer Hebrides has had the UK’s biggest increase in average house price in the past five years. 

The study found that the average price of a house there in February 2021 was £132,397, compared to £87,494 in February 2016, representing an increase of 51.32 per cent. 

Despite the increase the average house price in the area – a cluster of some 200 islands to the west of Scotland – is still among the 30 lowest price areas in the UK, and more than £100,000 lower than the UK average house cost. 

In second place was Newport in Wales, where the average price has jumped by 46.9 per cent in comparison to five years ago. The average in February 2016 was £142,820, while in February this year it stood at £211,332. 

Salford in Greater Manchester has seen the third highest increase in average house prices over the past five years, with 44 per cent. This February the average cost of a home stood at £186,600, whereas in 2016, house hunters could expect to pay £129,563. 

Alongside average house price increases, the IVA Advice study also investigated drops in value, with the City of Aberdeen seeing the biggest reduction compared to five years ago. In February 2016, the average house price in the city was £195,492, but it has since fallen by 19.88 per cent to £142,874. 

Hammersmith and Fulham in London has seen the second biggest drop of 14.65 per cent. The average house price in February 2021 was £659,864, but in 2016 it was £773,192. 

Overall out of more than 400 areas included in the analysis, just eight areas had a drop in average house price compared to February 2016.  

Five of them were London boroughs: Hammersmith and Fulham, Camden (0.56 per cent decrease), Tower Hamlets (1.03 per cent decrease), Kensington and Chelsea (5.72 per cent), and the City of London (11.79 per cent). 

The average house price in Hyndburn in Lancashire dropped by 1.6 per cent to £92,173, compared to £93,683 in February 2016. That makes the borough the home of the cheapest average house price in the UK, and alongside Burnley, where the average house price is £95,371, the only places in the UK where the average house costs less than £100,000. 

Across the UK, the average house price in February 2016 was £205,555, while the latest figures stand at £250,340 – an increase of 21.78 per cent.