Location is an important consideration for any homebuyer in choosing their ideal property to purchase. The online property lister, Rightmove, recently conducted a study to find out where in the UK the homeowners and dwellers are the happiest.  Choosing a happy location to live would certainly appear to be a top consideration for a future homebuyer. There were twelve considerations to help determine how happy status of the residents such as how neighbourly people were, how safe they felt, local amenities, and recreational opportunities. The town that came out on top was Harrogate in North Yorkshire.  It didn’t get a first in any of the twelve considerations for rating an area as happy but when all features were considered the one that came out on top was Harrogate. 

Rightmove director Miles Shipside remarked on the study saying, “Harrogate's position demonstrates the complex web of factors that makes for a happy place to live. The top-ranked places in our survey reflect the fact that we need a healthy balance of not only confidence in the value of our homes and pride in where we live, but also all-round enjoyment of the things to do and in our area and sense of well-being in the local community.

“Average asking prices in Harrogate are up 5.6% year-on-year, outperforming the national average of 1.2% and North Yorkshire average of 0.4%, indicating that there is demand to live in the UK's happiest place.”

“While many property market and economic reports make much of the so-called north-south divide, these findings buck that particular trend and show that those living in the North are happier than those in the South. As with house prices, there are various regional hotspots of particularly happy locations but our findings overall show that it's not so grim up north after all.”

London was one of the unhappiest areas for the UK and the low score was blamed on crime, overcrowding, and the cost of living.

Shipside added, “With nine of the UK's least happy places to live in our nation's capital, it does beg the question – are those sacrifices worth it to be happy at home in London?"

The top 10 happiest areas in the UK to live in order were: Harrogate, Stockport, Ipswich, Exeter, St Albans, Kingston upon Thames, Bath, Worcester, Bromley, and Truro.

The bottom 10 were: West London, Croydon, East Central London, Ilford, South East London, Enfield, North West London, West London, Dudley and North London.