Wigan borough town is one of the most sought after for houses in the country

A Wigan borough town is among the most sought after places to buy a house in the UK currently, according to data from a property website.

Atherton has been named in sixth in the top ten sellers’ market by percentage of properties sold, figures from Rightmove show.

The area has seen 80.3 per cent of all properties put up for sale this year already sold.

It is only behind five other places, which are Newquay, Cornwall (82 per cent of properties sold), Newton-Le-Willows, (81.8), Plymstock, Devon (81.2), Hailsham, East Sussex (81.1) and Canvey Island, Essex (80.5).

Coun Stuart Gerrard, of Atherton, said: “One of the reasons why Atherton is one of the most sought after places to buy property is down to its connections to both Manchester and Liverpool, its road and public transport network, and I believe it’s potential to become one of the best places to live in Greater Manchester.

“Not only do we want to welcome new residents to the town, we want them to be able to shop and socialise locally and boost our local economy and reduce unemployment, which in turn will lower crime.”

And Atherton is faring much better than cities such as Manchester when it comes to where people want to buy a home.

Since the market reopened in May 2020 following the first lockdown, asking prices in the top 10 seller areas have continued to rise, with seven of these hitting a new record this year.

This demand is being helped by people looking to leave cities and relocate as working from home becomes the norm.

Due to this, the property market is much slower in city centres such as as Manchester which have been hit hard by the pandemic - with many seeing just one in five properties on the market sold since the start of the year.

The list is based on just under 300,000 properties that have come up for sale since the start of 2021.

Separate data from professional house buying firm Property Solvers this week showed it is taking an average of 15.39 weeks to sell a property in the Wigan postcodes.

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