UK's sunniest county where you can buy a beachfront home for just £257,000
Given our reputation for a drizzly forecast and grey skies, many Brits instead head to the likes of Nice in France or Portugal's Algarve coast in search of a home that comes with guaranteed sunshine.
Moving overseas can be a long and expensive process, particularly with recent changes to EU border controls and new immigration laws.
If you've been dreaming of relocating to a place in the sun, instead of heading to Europe like many Brits, you might want to consider staying put because one county in the UK has officially been named the sunniest.
Comparing average house prices in the UK with Met Office weather data, over-50s property experts Regency Living have managed to find the sunniest place to buy a house in the UK.
A favourite holiday spot for Brits, with flocks of visitors thanks to its mild climate and golden sand beaches, and once home to a Royal residence belonging to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who also adored it, the Isle of Wight is the sunniest county in the UK.
Managing to outshine the rest of the UK, the Isle of Wight basks in a glorious five hours of sunshine a day. Elsewhere in the UK, the average amount of daily sunshine is just three hours, making the Isle of Wight the only county to pass the five-hour mark.
The property experts have also crunched the numbers to reveal how much you'll be shelling out for that extra bit of sunshine. With an average house price of £257,170 on the Isle of Wight, buyers are essentially paying around £835 for every hour of daily sunshine.
While this might seem steep, when compared to the UK's average house price of £271,415, most homeowners are coughing up a whopping £1,190 for a mere three hours of sun.
With over 25 beaches and 60 miles of coastline, there's no shortage of spots to soak up the sun on the Isle of Wight, with plenty of properties available on Rightmove.
A four-bedroom house near the well-known Shanklin Beach, complete with a lively promenade, is currently on the market for £260,000.
For those looking to stick to a budget, a two-bedroom bungalow boasting views over the dramatic cliffs of Alum Bay is up for grabs at £254,000, while £250,000 can get you a two-bedroom flat in the seaport town of Cowes.
If uninterrupted sea views are your thing, there's also a one-bedroom ground-floor flat available for just £200,000, meaning you can bag even more sunshine for your money.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
20 minutes ago
- The Guardian
EU fails to reduce 50% steel tariff in outline trade deal with US
The latest proposal for a trade agreement between the EU and the US does not include a removal or reduction of the punitive 50% tariff Donald Trump imposed on steel imports, it has emerged. It is a big setback for the industry in the EU which last month warned it faced being wiped out by the 50% rate, high energy costs and cheap Chinese competition. One Brussels diplomat confirmed the new outline deal to avert a trade war with the US – briefed out to member states on Wednesday – 'includes a 15% baseline tariff on a range of goods, with notable exceptions such as steel, which remains at 50%'. Other sources say the EU is pushing for a compromise, allowing a 50% tariff but only on steel exported above a certain quota. Diplomats stressed that the exemptions and tariff reductions in both directions had still to be fully agreed. But if the steel tariff in the outline proposal remains, it means the EU will pay a far higher rate than the UK. British steel is subject to a 25% tariff and there has been no indication this will rise further. Instead, the rate is due to be reduced to zero under the deal Keir Starmer struck in May. But, while much of the agreement came into force at the end of last month, the steel exemption remains tangled up in talks over the origin of some materials. The EU's 15% baseline rate for exports of all products to the US is also worse than the 10% agreed by Britain. China's president, Xi Jinping, told a summit in Beijing on Thursday that Chinese and European leaders must 'make correct strategic choices' in the trade war. 'The challenges facing Europe at present do not come from China,' Xi said. 'There are no fundamental conflicts of interest or geopolitical contradictions between China and the EU.' The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, told the same event that the EU would find it 'very difficult to maintain its current level of openness' with China if Beijing maintained a massive trade surplus, which she blamed on 'trade distortions' including state subsidies. She said the EU accounted for 14.5% of China's exports including steel, yet took only 8% of EU exports. 'These numbers speak to the scale of our relationship, but they also expose a growing imbalance. It is mostly due to an increasing number of trade distortions and market access barriers,' she said. While there was no formal agreement, progress seemed to have been made by the EU and China to unblock the supply of rare earths which has been holding up the car production industry. The German car industry group, the VDA, said in a statement that 'production stoppages can no longer be ruled out' because of the shortage of the minerals including the magnets needed for the electronic opening and closing of car windows, boots and bonnets. 'The Chinese export restrictions on rare earths are a serious challenge for the security of supply,' said Hildegard Müller, the VDA's president. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Von der Leyen told reporters the summit had arrived at a 'practical solution' whereby car companies and others could 'immediately ask us to mediate and find out why there's a delay on the delivery'. Under pressure from the US and China, European leaders sense that a quick deal with Washington – even if it involves a painful level of tariffs – is a price worth paying to stablise businesses. The EU steel body, said earlier this month that a 50% tariff would be catastrophic. Sources say Germany's chancellor, Friedrich Merz, remains keen to seal a deal as soon as possible to provide stability to investors and manufacturers, particularly in the auto sector. 'As we lose our major export market the European market is being flooded by the steel the US is no long absorbing,' Eurofer said after the first attempt at a deal with the US was blown up by Trump 10 days ago. It is possible that Merz, who has a direct line to the US president, may reach out to him, possibly during his scheduled visit to Scotland this weekend to visit his two golf courses. The European Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged on Thursday as policymakers waited to see whether the eurozone would be hit by US tariffs.
South Wales Guardian
39 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
ECB leaves interest rates unchanged as it assesses impact of Trump tariffs
The bank's governing council announced on Thursday at its headquarters in Frankfurt that it would leave its benchmark deposit rate at 2%. 'The economy has so far proven resilient overall in a challenging global environment,' said bank president Christine Lagarde at her post-decision news conference. 'At the same time, the environment remains exceptionally uncertain, especially because of trade disputes.' The ECB has already cut rates eight times since June of last year and Ms Lagarde said after the last policy meeting on June 5 that the central bank is 'getting to the end of a monetary policy cycle'. The monetary authority for the 20 countries that use the euro currency has been lowering rates to support growth after raising them in 2022-2023 to snuff out inflation caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the rebound after the pandemic. With the benchmark rate now at 2%, down from a record high of 4%, analysts think there could be one more rate cut coming, but only in September. The reason, say analysts: The ECB's policymakers simply do not know the outcome of talks between the EU's executive commission and the Trump administration. Mr Trump first set a 20% tariff for EU goods, then threatened 50% after expressing displeasure at the pace of talks, then sent the EU a letter informing officials of a potential 30% tariff. EU officials earlier held out hope of winning at least the 10% baseline that applies to almost all trade partners, and analysts think the actual rate may be lower than Mr Trump's tariff threats. The talks are up against an August 1 deadline, but earlier deadlines have slipped as the sides kept talking. With signs of economic activity holding up reasonably well, the ECB can afford to wait and see what the outcome of trade negotiations will be. Higher tariffs, or import taxes, on European goods would mean sellers would have to either increase prices for US consumers – risking loss of market share – or swallow the added cost in terms of lower profits. In either case, higher tariffs would hurt export earnings for European firms and slow the economy, which would strengthen the case for another rate cut in September. The ECB's rate cuts have helped support economic activity by lowering the cost of credit for consumers and businesses to purchase goods. Higher rates have the opposite effect and are used to cool off inflation by reducing demand for goods. Growth in the eurozone was relatively strong at 0.6% in the first quarter – though that was partly thanks to rushed shipments of goods trying to beat the tariffs. Inflation has fallen from double digits in late 2022 to 2% in June, in line with the ECB's target. A stronger euro, which lowers the price of imports, and softer global prices for oil have helped keep inflation moderate. The stronger euro, up 13% this year at 1.17 dollars, has attracted attention as a potential damper on growth and ECB vice president Luis de Guindos said any rapid moves over 1.20 dollars could be 'much more complicated'. But the ECB typically does not target the exchange rate, and the euro's rise is considered to be less the result of Europe's strength and more the result of a weaker dollar weighed down by investor uncertainty about the future path of inflation, growth and government debt in the US.
Rhyl Journal
an hour ago
- Rhyl Journal
ECB leaves interest rates unchanged as it assesses impact of Trump tariffs
The bank's governing council announced on Thursday at its headquarters in Frankfurt that it would leave its benchmark deposit rate at 2%. 'The economy has so far proven resilient overall in a challenging global environment,' said bank president Christine Lagarde at her post-decision news conference. 'At the same time, the environment remains exceptionally uncertain, especially because of trade disputes.' The ECB has already cut rates eight times since June of last year and Ms Lagarde said after the last policy meeting on June 5 that the central bank is 'getting to the end of a monetary policy cycle'. The monetary authority for the 20 countries that use the euro currency has been lowering rates to support growth after raising them in 2022-2023 to snuff out inflation caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the rebound after the pandemic. With the benchmark rate now at 2%, down from a record high of 4%, analysts think there could be one more rate cut coming, but only in September. The reason, say analysts: The ECB's policymakers simply do not know the outcome of talks between the EU's executive commission and the Trump administration. Mr Trump first set a 20% tariff for EU goods, then threatened 50% after expressing displeasure at the pace of talks, then sent the EU a letter informing officials of a potential 30% tariff. EU officials earlier held out hope of winning at least the 10% baseline that applies to almost all trade partners, and analysts think the actual rate may be lower than Mr Trump's tariff threats. The talks are up against an August 1 deadline, but earlier deadlines have slipped as the sides kept talking. With signs of economic activity holding up reasonably well, the ECB can afford to wait and see what the outcome of trade negotiations will be. Higher tariffs, or import taxes, on European goods would mean sellers would have to either increase prices for US consumers – risking loss of market share – or swallow the added cost in terms of lower profits. In either case, higher tariffs would hurt export earnings for European firms and slow the economy, which would strengthen the case for another rate cut in September. The ECB's rate cuts have helped support economic activity by lowering the cost of credit for consumers and businesses to purchase goods. Higher rates have the opposite effect and are used to cool off inflation by reducing demand for goods. Growth in the eurozone was relatively strong at 0.6% in the first quarter – though that was partly thanks to rushed shipments of goods trying to beat the tariffs. Inflation has fallen from double digits in late 2022 to 2% in June, in line with the ECB's target. A stronger euro, which lowers the price of imports, and softer global prices for oil have helped keep inflation moderate. The stronger euro, up 13% this year at 1.17 dollars, has attracted attention as a potential damper on growth and ECB vice president Luis de Guindos said any rapid moves over 1.20 dollars could be 'much more complicated'. But the ECB typically does not target the exchange rate, and the euro's rise is considered to be less the result of Europe's strength and more the result of a weaker dollar weighed down by investor uncertainty about the future path of inflation, growth and government debt in the US.
