Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Wimbledon village is popular with yuppies as well as tennis players

Young urban professionals - a group known back in the 1980s as "yuppies" - are flocking to a limited number of property hotspots, says new research.

They are also not put off by the higher prices in their favourite haunts.

In the smarter parts of Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham they spend at least 50% more than people who buy elsewhere in the area.

But the research, by Lloyds Bank, shows that a yuppy's true spiritual home is Wimbledon, in south west London.

Indeed half of the most popular areas for the whole country are in London's SW postal district.

The research was based on figures for England and Wales from the Land Registry.

It ranks the number of home purchases made by career-minded 25 to 44 year-olds.

It also shows that when yuppies buy a property, they pay a typical premium of as much as 63% over other homes in the same city.

Top towns for yuppies Town Postal district Region Average price paid (£) Price premium Wimbledon SW19 London 534,999 13% Hove BN3 South East 287,968 -11% Didsbury M20 North West 221,989 55% Clifton BS8 South West 335,202 50% Cambridge CB1 East Anglia 323,509 0% West Bridgford NG2 East Midlands 227,964 48% Ecclesall/Hunter's Bar S11 Yorks and Humber 214,614 39% Jesmond NE2 North East 236,159 37% Harborne B17 West Midlands 249,382 63% Cardiff Central CF24 Wales 178,366 -7%

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Clifton area of Bristol is another yuppy hotspot

However, excluding the smarter parts of Hove and Brighton, all the most popular area for yuppies are in London.

Many are to be found along the more southerly reaches of the Northern Line, which bisects the capital.

Back in the 1980s, when the yuppy word was coined, some even had their own alternative pronunciations.

Battersea, traditionally a working class part of the capital, was pronounced in a way that rhymed with Mercia, or was otherwise known, pretentiously, as South Chelsea.

Top yuppy locations in London Area Postal district Average House price £ (12 months to Jan 2014) Wimbledon SW19 534,999 Fulham SW6 936,437 Wandsworth SW18 585,008 Battersea SW11 732,224 Streatham SW16 334,500 Hampstead NW3 1,163,585 Tooting SW17 512,067 Paddington W2 1,083,684 Kilburn NW6 747,062 Putney SW15 624,676 Balham SW12 615,213

The typical profile used for the research involved young graduates, with professional qualifications, who are well paid, and choose to live in a city.