Blog
Living the high life
17th February 2008
How would you assess your quality of life? Are you better off than this time last year or enjoying a better lifestyle than say five years ago? Do you live in a village, town or city where you feel the quality of the living environment is pretty good? If not, what is stopping you moving on and finding pastures new?
There is plenty of published data on quality of life variables. The government issues annual figures as part of their sustainable growth agenda (details here) and the Halifax Bank of Scotland has added it’s two penny worth. The second Halifax Quality of Life Survey has ranked Wokingham at the top of its most recent survey results - I came across it whilst researching for a new edition of the Housing Market in Focus 2008.
As one might expect the data used is fairly top heavy in terms of employment and property indicators. One significant point is that good rankings in the quality of life league tables is directly correlated in the property price figures, there is a price to pay for living the good life. According to HBoS
‘House prices trade at a premium to the average house price in their region in 27 of 30 local authorities with the best quality of life. On average, this premium is £78,618, or 30%. In Wokingham, the average house price is £328,282, a premium of £45,372 (16%) to the average house price in the South East.’
The top local authorities for each of the standard regions of the UK were as follows:
Rutland - East Midlands
South Cambridgeshire - East of England
Bromley - London
Castle Morpeth - North East
Congleton - North West
Aberdeenshire - Scotland
Wokingham - South East
East Dorset - South West
The Vale of Glamorgan - Wales
Bromsgrove - West Midlands
Hambleton - Yorkshire and The Humber
Indicators used in the calculations
Labour market indicators
Employment rate %
Gross weekly Earnings £s
Housing
Owner Occupation rate %
No of rooms in house
% of houses with central heating and sole use of bathroom
Urban environment
Traffic flows per square km
Burglary rate per 1000 population
% of Vacant Properties
CO2 Emissions per tonne per capita
Physical environment
Average annual Rainfall
Annual sunshine hours
Health
% in good health
life expectancy at birth for males
Education
No. of pupils in primary school class
% of 15yr olds with 5 or more GCSEs A-C grade or Scottish equivalent
Geoff Riley
Geoff Riley FRSA has been teaching Economics for over thirty years. He has over twenty years experience as Head of Economics at leading schools. He writes extensively and is a contributor and presenter on CPD conferences in the UK and overseas.