£41m for Britain's most exclusive street

By Sarah O'Grady
Posted: 2008/07/24

GOT a spare £41.4million lying around? You will need every penny to acquire a des res in Britain's richest street.

Head north, however, and you can pick up a property for £37,000, with change left over.

Never has the North-South divide been as starkly illustrated as in an astonishing new survey yesterday.

Of the Top 20 high-value streets, 18 are in London, clustered around Kensington, Knightsbridge, Chelsea, Hampstead and Highgate.

Average values in these areas exceed £4.5million, while London has 1,106 streets where properties top £1million.

By contrast, Manchester is home to 2,555 streets where values remain below £100,000, followed by 1,834 streets in Liverpool.

The most affluent towns, with values up to five times the £230,000 national average, are in the Southeast. In first place is Virginia Water in a Top 10 dominated by Surrey and Buckinghamshire.

Just about the only really wealthy areas north of Watford are in Cheshire, home to footballers and their WAGs, and around Harrogate in Yorkshire.

Britain's top address is Kensington Palace Gardens, W8. This gated estate opposite Kensington Palace and Hyde Park - average value £41.4million - is home to steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal.

Next is Compton Avenue, near the Kenwood estate on Hampstead Heath, with values topping £7.5million.

Bottom of the housing ladder is Ann Street in Middlesbrough, where you can pick up a home for £36,711, or Chestnut Grove, Accrington, with average values at just £37,000.

Alex Chesterman, of Zoopla. co. uk, who compiled the report, said: "With all the doom and gloom, it makes a change to see how high some values have remained - and that you can still buy for less than £100,000."

Highest value towns Locations Average prices

1.    Virginia Water, Surrey £807,346
2.    Cobham, Surrey £690,098
3.    Beaconsfield, Bucks £674,584
4.    Keston, Kent £651,563
5.    Chalfont St Giles, Bucks £645,910
6.    Esher, Surrey £627,439
7.    Gerrards Cross, Bucks £625,607
8.    Radlett, Herts £555,148
9.    Richmond, South-west London £548,043
10.    Brockenhurst, Hants £541,715