HOUSE prices in Chippenham have seen one of the biggest increases compared with other towns elsewhere in the UK, according to recent statistics.

Property website Zoopla released figures showing that since January 2016, houses prices in Chippenham have risen by 14.14 per cent with the average house in the town costing £338,102.

Chippenham came seventh in the list of towns to see the biggest house price increase in the past 12 months, with Diss in Norfolk topping the list with an increase of 16.20 per cent and average house price of £305,896.

Sam Brazell, the branch partner at estate agents Allen & Harris in Chippenham, believes the increase is partly due to people living in the town commuting to London and other areas.

“It’s just in general across Chippenham, there’s not a particular area where we have seen an increase,” she said.

“The rise has been phenomenal from two years ago,” she said.

“We do get a lot of people from outside the town, such as from Reading and Newbury, because it’s so expensive to live there.”

Mayor of Chippenham Terry Gibson said: “We are seen as good value for housing. People tend to use Chippenham as a dormitory town and in my opinion if that’s what we are, let’s be a good one.”

The Liberal Democrat prospective MP for North Wiltshire, Dr Brian Mathew, believes that the increase in house prices not only in Chippenham but across Wiltshire is a growing problem and is calling on all political parties to support garden villages.

“It’s a problem to both first time buyers and first time renters, and also a problem for older people if they want to downsize,” he said.

“The Government has released about 14 garden villages – which are new villages that are planned properly with the right facilities – across the country but none of them are in Wiltshire.”

The south west of England currently ranks fourth in the house price rise league, with an increase of 7.88 per cent and average house price of £297,054, while the East of England tops the list with an increase of 11.56 per cent and average price of £358,401.

Zoopla estimate that the British property market is now worth a total of £8.17 trillion – up £559bn since January 2016.