A SEASIDE area in Dorset has been named as one of the world’s most expensive places to live.
Nestled comfortably amongst the likes of Monte Carlo, Palm Beach, and Basel, the UK’s Sandbanks is now the fourth most expensive place to live.
Sandbanks – Britain’s equivalent to Miami Beach – has been one of the most desirable places to live in the UK for over 20 years.
It’s renowned as a hotspot for the rich and famous, and has attracted celebrities such as Rick Stein, Harry Redknapp, Karl Pilkington, John Lennon, and Liam Gallagher.
Recent figures from property website Zoopla showed that properties in the millionaire’s playground were sold for an average price of £1.25million last year.
The most expensive property was sold for an eye-watering sum of £13.5million in March of last year.
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Only three cities in the entire world had a higher average propety price.
Properties in Monaco’s Monte Carlo averaged at £4.24million.
Switzerland’s Basel sold some stunning houses for an average of £1.8million.
While Florida’s Palm Beach was only marginally higher, averaging £1.33million.
UK’s Sandbanks ranked higher than Zurich, whose average property prices sat at an average £1.1million, both San Francisco and Hong Kong, which averaged £1million, and Los Angeles at £900k.
London didn’t even come close, with average property prices sitting at just half a million.
The average asking price in Sandbanks has also shot up, according to recent research from Rightmove.
Rightmove said that the average asking price, which used to be just over £1.5million in 2022, rocketed to £1,909,943 last year.
In stark comparison, the current average asking price across the UK is £355,177 – a 1.1 per cent decrease from 2022.
Estate agents in Sandbanks said that it had been a “successful” year in the area.
Steve Isaacs, of Luxury and Prestige Realty in Poole, revealed: “It’s been a very successful year selling prime waterfront properties on Sandbanks, which have outperformed the wider market.
“In fact, the Sandbanks market has continued to strengthen throughout the year.
“The strong market has been due to a limited supply of suitable properties combined with an increase in demand.
“The lifestyle element is not to be underestimated, and the allure of living on the waterfront continues to attract buyers from out of the area.”
In fact, an 850ft stretch called Panorama Road has actually exceeded the total price-per-square-foot of waterside streets in Miami and Monte Carlo, according to a local estate agent.
It contains just 13 harbourside mansions that total a staggering £93million in value.
But over the water in the south end of Poole, people are struggling to get by, and even accuse the rich of turning a blind eye.
Around 11 per cent of the town and 18 per cent of kids live in poverty, according to local council figures from 2021.
A 49-year-old dad from this area of Poole told The Sun: “Sandbanks is in a bubble of its own. It is phenomenal, large properties, large cars, affluent.
“But Poole town seems very tired. It is struggling, look at the shops.
“The amount of people on Universal Credit, benefits, all that stuff, is on the rise and will be for sometime.
“Job centres are always busy, always busy – we will struggle for another ten years I imagine.”