Stockport, Chester and Crewe in the North West have dominated Property Week’s research into the best places to live in the UK.

Making a decision on where to live involves a huge number of variables. But according to new research commissioned by Property Week, a trade magazine, the North West is the big winner.

Stockport moved 15 places up the table of best places to live in the UK, into 3rd position, just behind Chester and Crewe.

The exclusive data is published just days ahead of RESI, the UK’s biggest property conference, which is set to be attended by new housing minister Gavin Barwell, London deputy mayor James Murray and former chancellor Nigel Lawson.

Crewe, Chester and Stockport top the UK table, as great neighbourhoods and access to jobs. are among the best-ranked features.

Liz Hamson, editor of Property Week, said: “Some people like to perpetuate the myth that London is the only place to live. As someone currently enjoying the resurgence of interest in Margate, I know first hand this is far from true and it’s fantastic that this independent research has highlighted the wide variety of great places to live.”

As debates rage over grammar schools and Brexit, many people have put off the decision to move house. But when we do, for most of us, the main consideration we make is being able to afford the mortgage, as well as the range of amenities.

The question is: which UK town or city rules the roost as the best place to live in 2016? Property Week asked location specialist CACI to draw up a list of the most desirable locations, best places to live in the UK, based on value for money – drawn from both prices and average incomes – and the overall quality of life in an area.

Now in its second year, Property Week’s Hot Housing Index assesses local employment levels, amenities, schools and connectivity to the internet. This year, they also assessed accessibility to public transport for the first time.

The research reveals that the average property price across the whole of the UK is more than six times the average household income.

Generally speaking, the top 50 is dominated by areas outside the south of England.

2016 Rank 2015 Rank Town District Region Score Affordability Index Employability Index Internet Connectivity School Provision Local Amenities Public Transport Accessibility 1 3 CREWE Cheshire East North West 74.3% C B C A A B 2 1 CHESTER Cheshire West and Chester North West 71.7% C B D A A A 3 18 STOCKPORT Stockport North West 71.5% C C A A A A 4 15 HARROGATE Harrogate Yorkshire and The Humber 71.2% D A D A A C 5 6 EDINBURGH Edinburgh, City of Scotland 70.9% C C A A A A 6 10 HAMILTON South Lanarkshire Scotland 70.6% A D A A A A 7 2 BEVERLEY East Riding of Yorkshire Yorkshire and The Humber 69.4% B B E A A B 8 5 WARRINGTON Warrington North West 68.9% B C C A B B 9 4 INVERURIE Aberdeenshire Scotland 68.5% C A E A B B 10 8 DEVIZES Wiltshire South West 68.3% D B D A A B 11 n/a SALE Trafford North West 68.2% D C B A A B 12 7 BRISTOL South Gloucestershire South West 67.2% D B C A B B 13 20 PERTH Perth & Kinross Scotland 66.7% C B D A B A 14 13 CHORLEY Chorley North West 66.4% A B C B D B 15 24 LIVERPOOL Sefton North West 66.2% B D A A A A 16 n/a SOLIHULL Solihull West Midlands 66.2% C C A B B B 17 14 GLASGOW East Dunbartonshire Scotland 66.2% B B A C D B 18 25 BURY Bury North West 66.0% A C C B B B 19 34 LEYLAND South Ribble North West 65.6% A A B C E B 20 n/a NOTTINGHAM Rushcliffe East Midlands 65.3% C A A D D C 21 28 LIVINGSTON West Lothian Scotland 65.2% A D B B C A 22 30 PAISLEY Renfrewshire Scotland 65.0% A D A B B A 23 37 SHREWSBURY Shropshire West Midlands 65.0% C A E A A B 24 31 KIRKCALDY Fife Scotland 65.0% A D C A A A 25 23 LEEDS Leeds Yorkshire and The Humber 64.9% B D B A A A 26 9 SWANSEA Swansea Wales 64.4% B C B A B B 27 19 DURHAM County Durham North East 64.3% A D D A A A 28 n/a ST. ALBANS St Albans East of England 63.9% E A A B B C 29 33 STAFFORD Stafford West Midlands 63.7% B B B C C C 30 17 BEDFORD Central Bedfordshire East of England 63.6% C B B A B B 31 21 CLEVEDON North Somerset South West 63.3% C B D B B C 32 43 AIRDRIE North Lanarkshire Scotland 63.2% A E A A B A 33 27 BOLTON Bolton North West 63.0% A E A A B A 34 n/a HUDDERSFIELD Kirklees Yorkshire and The Humber 62.9% A D C A A A 35 16 ABERDEEN Aberdeen City Scotland 62.9% C B E B A A 36 n/a STRATFORD-UPON-AVON Stratford-on-Avon West Midlands 62.8% D A E B C E 37 n/a WARE East Hertfordshire East of England 62.8% E A C B B C 38 41 CARDIFF Cardiff Wales 62.7% C D C A A A 39 n/a THIRSK Hambleton Yorkshire and The Humber 62.5% C A D B D E 40 36 STIRLING Stirling Scotland 62.4% B C D C C B 41 22 PRENTON Wirral North West 62.4% B E D A A A 42 29 MORPETH Northumberland North East 62.4% B C E A A B 43 n/a WIGAN Wigan North West 62.3% A D A A A A 44 n/a KENDAL South Lakeland North West 62.3% C A E B B D 45 32 READING West Berkshire South East 62.2% C A E B C D 46 26 STOCKTON-ON-TEES Stockton-on-Tees North East 62.1% A E A B B B 47 42 AYLESBURY Aylesbury Vale South East 61.8% D B D A C C 48 n/a LEAMINGTON SPA Warwick West Midlands 61.7% D B B C B B 49 n/a YORK York Yorkshire and The Humber 61.6% C B E C A B 50 40 WOKINGHAM Wokingham South East 61.3% D A C B D D

Due to the extremely high property prices in London, a separate ranking for the capital has been created. Every single London borough scored very low on affordability compared with other parts of the UK, meaning that if the entire country were treated as one ranking, the capital wouldn’t feature in the top 50 at all.

2016 Rank 2015 Rank District Region Score Affordability Index Employability Index Internet Connectivity School Provision Local Amenities Public Transport Accessibility 1 3 Bromley London 61.6% E C A A A A 2 1 Barnet London 60.7% E C C A A A 3 16 Richmond upon Thames London 60.2% E A B C A A 4 4 Wandsworth London 59.7% E C C B A A 5 n/a Kingston upon Thames London 57.0% E B A D A B 6 6 Sutton London 53.8% E C A C B A 7 5 Lambeth London 51.8% E E C A A A 8 11 Camden London 51.8% E D E C A A 9 14 Westminster London 51.6% E C E C A A 10 2 Croydon London 51.5% E E B A A A 11 10 Haringey London 50.7% E E B B A A 12 15 Hammersmith and Fulham London 50.4% E D D C A A 13 n/a Havering London 50.3% E C A B A A 14 8 Bexley London 49.5% D C B B B A 15 12 Ealing London 49.1% E E C A A A 16 n/a Hillingdon London 48.9% E D B A A A 17 19 Harrow London 48.7% E C B C B A 18 n/a Merton London 48.6% E C A C B A 19 20 Kensington and Chelsea London 48.6% E C D D A A 20 n/a City of London London 48.0% E B E E A C

Unsurprisingly, housing affordability is a major issue in the capital, with only one borough (Bexley) in the top 20 scoring above E.

What’s more, the situation has worsened in the last year. Escalating prices mean that even Croydon now scores poorly when it comes to affordability, with the result that the borough’s position on the league table has slipped from second in 2015 to 10th this year. The fact that employment levels in Croydon have fallen in the last year is also a contributing factor.

The most notable climber on the London ranking is Richmond upon Thames, which has moved from 16th last year to third in the London ranking.

While affordability and schools provision remain issues for the area, employment levels have improved markedly, moving from a D to an A grade. In contrast to the national league table, the inclusion of a metric covering access to public transport in the methodology this year hasn’t had a huge impact on the London rankings.

Most areas of the capital are well served by public transport, although Kingston upon Thames is let down by its lack of fast services into central London.