UK House Prices: The 5 « forgotten » seaside towns where you can still buy a home for under £150k.

A bitter truth sits under the salt air: coastal homes have sprinted out of reach for many, yet a handful of seaside towns are still selling solid, liveable homes for less than £150,000. They’re not the glossy postcards. They’re the places where the tea is good, the fish-and-chips is hot, and the high street still nods to the working week. For buyers who don’t mind a brisk wind and a short train, the door is open.

I pressed my face to an estate agent window and there it was: a two-bed terrace with a tiny yard, price starting with a 1. A retired couple in bobble hats hovered beside me, counting zeros under their breath. *Salt on the lips, numbers on the mind.* We chatted, like you do in small places, about boilers and broadband and whether the bus runs late on Fridays. The sea thumped the promenade as if to say, decide. It wasn’t a mirage.

Where the tide never quite turned: pockets under £150k

Look beyond the celebrity coves and you find coastlines that never inflated into fantasy. They’re proud, practical towns that once danced to shipyards and fairgrounds, where three-bed terraces still undercut city studios. Yes, you can still buy by the sea for under £150,000. It’s not a fluke; it’s a pattern in places that swapped Instagram hype for everyday graft, where the commute is horizontal along the coast rather than vertical up a glass tower.

Take a buyer in her thirties from Leeds who’d given up on inner-city flats. She started scanning the North East and found a tidy two-bed near the Headland in Hartlepool for around the £130k mark, with room for a desk and a dog bed. She wanted trains, takeaway options, weekend walks, and no mould saga. Another couple drove up the A1, fell for Newbiggin-by-the-Sea after an accidental ice-cream, and put in an offer by the lifeboat station, the sea framed like a screensaver through a sash window.

The clues repeat: town centres with unloved retail units that are quietly morphing into studios, council-led promenade fixes, and beaches that are lovely on Tuesday mornings as well as July weekends. These markets move in different weather systems. They rise when investors and remote workers notice the commute is a decent podcast rather than a grind, then steady because local wages cap the froth. Upgrades matter too: stalwart sea defences in Withernsea, a spruce-up along Rhyl’s front, fresh paint on Skegness guesthouses. Value hides in the workaday.

How to hunt smart in ‘forgotten’ resorts

Start with sold prices, not just pretty photos. Pull Land Registry data for streets two or three back from the promenade, then set alerts for “chain-free” and “ex-rental” stock. Walk the town midweek if you can; count shutters, note bus times, sniff out the good bakery. If you need to commute, draw a 20‑minute circle around the station. Choose houses with workable EPC ratings and straightforward roofs, then budget for a new kitchen later. Slow is fine. Boring is often brilliant.

The common trap is chasing a sea view and forgetting the rest: roof age, lease clauses, coastal insurance, broadband speeds. We’ve all had that moment when heart beats head by the waterline. Pause. Ask a local plumber what breaks every winter. Knock the wall by the bathroom and listen. Let’s be honest: nobody does that every day. Get quotes for insurance before you offer; coastal postcodes vary wildly. If it’s leasehold, read the ground rent clause twice, then read it again with tea.

Think like a surveyor for one hour, then be a dreamer on the beach. If the house passes the dull checks, the sea can do the rest.

“Coastal bargains exist, but the best buy is the one that’s cheap to own, not just cheap to buy,” says a North East surveyor who spends half his life poking lofts near the shore.

• Hartlepool, County Durham – Victorian terraces, harbour walks, trains to Teesside; lively football Saturdays.
• Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, Northumberland – snug two-beds near a rebuilt bay, art on the breakwater, proper community.
• Withernsea, East Riding of Yorkshire – stout sea defences, neat streets, sensible prices a few blocks inland.
• Skegness, Lincolnshire – classic resort energy, year-round services, heaps of mid-terraces under the magic number.
• Rhyl, Denbighshire – waterfront regeneration, long sandy beach, houses that leave room in your budget.

What a £150k coast life really buys

Under £150,000 on the British coast can mean a front room with a whiff of the sea on windy nights, a back yard for herbs and sandy shoes, and enough left over each month to actually live. It can also mean a train that’s hourly, a high street that snoozes midwinter, and a boiler that wants a cuddle in January. The trade-off is strangely modern: less prestige, more breathing space. You’re buying a rhythm as much as bricks. If that rhythm matches your work and your people, the five towns above become more than “forgotten”. They become a starting line, not a consolation prize. Share the names quietly if you like. Or shout them over the gulls.

FAQ :

• Can I get a mortgage for a £120k–£150k coastal home?Usually yes. Many lenders go that low, though some have minimum loan sizes (£25k–£50k). A 10% deposit broadens choice. Rates shift, so compare brokers and factor fees into the maths.
• Are these towns good for families?Plenty are. Check Ofsted or Estyn reports, parks, youth clubs, and weekend buses. Visit after dark, chat to shop staff, and trial the school run at the right time of day.
• Leasehold or freehold by the sea: which is safer?Houses are often freehold; flats are commonly leasehold. Read the lease term, ground rent, and service charges. Avoid escalating ground rents and unclear maintenance on sea-facing blocks.
• Will flood risk make insurance painful?It varies by street. Get quotes early and read the insurer’s flood history questions carefully. Flood Re can help some homes in the UK; coastal erosion is different to flood, so check both maps.
• Can I buy as a holiday let or Airbnb?Rules are tightening. Some councils require registration or planning consent for short lets, with stricter regimes already in parts of Wales and Scotland. Always check local policy before banking on yields.