Reading is home to 'nosiest property price neighbours'
Reading is home to Britain's nosiest neighbours when it comes to finding out what other people's homes are worth, research from a website suggests.
Zoopla, which took the findings from searches made on its website, found Reading residents check out how much their neighbours' homes are worth nearly twice as much as the average Briton.
Compiled by examining how many times visitors to the Zoopla website used its property estimates tool to get an instant valuation on a property they lived near to, the website's "nosey neighbours" index compared 50 of Britain's biggest urban areas against an average national nosiness score of 100.
The searches included in the research were made by people who identified themselves as being a neighbour when making the search.
Residents of Reading topped the table, with a score of 189.1 - nearly double the national average.
Milton Keynes, Cambridge, central London, Swindon, Southampton, Bristol and Brighton also made Zoopla's nosey neighbours top 10 list.
The research found evidence of a North/South divide, with people in the South seemingly keener than the rest of Britain on keeping up to date with what their neighbours' homes are worth, perhaps motivated by strong price rises in their areas.
Middlesbrough, Hull, Liverpool, Barnsley, Dundee and Glasgow were identified as being among the areas with the least nosey neighbours.
On a regional level, London appears to be the nosiest overall area, followed by the South East and East Anglia.
People living across Wales and Scotland were less likely than average to check out what their neighbours' homes are worth, with nosiness scores of 62.5 and 54.9 respectively.
Lawrence Hall, a spokesman for Zoopla, said people living in Reading "have their finger very firmly on the pulse when it comes to knowing their local market".
Here are the top 10 urban areas in Zoopla's nosey neighbours' index, followed by the index score, the average property price and the average price growth over the last 12 months:
1. Reading, 189.1, £418,515, 4.88%
2. Milton Keynes, 176.6, £290,273, 5.58%
3. Cambridge, 159.6, £442,717, 2.74%
4. Central London, 157.6, £1,355,793, 4.79%
5. Colchester, 144, £301,903, 3.58%
6. Bedford, 138.5, £309,838, 5.94%
7. Swindon, 135.3, £232,930, 2.57%
8. Southampton, 129.9, £278,960, 3.68%
9. Bristol, 121.2, £304,411, 5.75%
10. Brighton, 118.5, £377,030, 3.12%
And here are the 10 least nosey urban areas in Zoopla's nosey neighbours'index, followed by the index score, the average property price and the average price growth over the last 12 months:
1. Dundee, 41.5, £159,718, 1.08%
2. Middlesbrough, 45.4, £139,866, 0.41%
3. Hull, 49.6, £124,358, minus 1.86%
4. Glasgow, 57.9, £175,896, 4.16%
5. Liverpool, 58, £159,580, 3.21%
6. Doncaster, 58.8, £150,072, minus 1.09%
7. Rotherham, 59.2, £140,949, 0.92%
8. Stoke-on-Trent, 60.3, £140,019, 1.37%
9. Barnsley, 64.7, £130,523, 0.35%
10. Wigan, 64.9, £149,895, minus 2.67%
Here are how nosey neighbours are ranked on a regional basis, with the index score, the average property price and the average property price growth in the last 12 months, according to Zoopla:
1. London, 179.6, £653,485, 3.92%
2. South East England, 160.7, £392,264, 5.99%
3. East Anglia, 135.2, £338,322, 7.54%
4. South West England, 103.4, £282,297, 3.91%
5. East Midlands, 92.4, £198,953, 0.67%
6. West Midlands, 89.7, £208,725, 3.68%
7. North West England, 80.3, £182,721, 2.33%
8. Yorkshire and the Humber, 76.9, £167,130, minus 0.49%
9. North East England, 64.4, £182,459, 0.40%
10. Wales, 62.5, £175,543, 0.18%
11. Scotland, 54.9, £182,507, 2.21%
