A new report reveals that York is one of the five fastest 'high growth potential' regions in the UK...

The city was also the runner-up in the Knight Frank 'best investment locations' published in The Sunday Times. In addition to those impressive qualities, South Yorkshire is also one of the recipients sharing £1b worth of regeneration funding to be supplied through the government's Pathfinder Scheme, which I announced to PS members very recently.

South Yorkshire itself is guaranteed to get at least £100 million to improve its more deprived areas and the city of York is bound to swell its already evident popularity amongst aspiring homeowners, as a direct consequence of improvements to the wider demographic region.

The city's university is promoting York as a Centre for Technological Excellence, which it seems certain to achieve, given its already impressive credentials.

The proximity of York to Leeds is also beneficial, because Leeds has already developed into a major buy-to-let hotspot and is popular with renters, owner occupiers, students and commuters.

Diverse range of housing

A spokesperson for Knight Frank commented: “People are prepared to travel between the two cities depending on where they prefer to live, work and play. York also has some of the best state and private schools in the UK and parents have shown a desire to relocate to the city, just to access better education facilities for their children.

”While the property investment market in Leeds has displayed dramatic swings up and down over the last decade (and has certainly peaked over the last couple of years), the market in York has remained consistently buoyant.

”York has a diverse range of housing, everything from period family homes costing millions to rather more modest properties. The average terraced house would set you back around £195,000, but estate agents report there is no shortage of buyers at either end of the market - and people fall over themselves to acquire suitable dwellings close to the city centre.