Research recently conducted by the Bank of Scotland into how all UK cities have performed over the past five years has thrown up some interesting results.

Inverness, granted city status for the Millennium, came top of the table of such cities showing a price increase over 5 years of 115%, figures which are in contrast to what many would expect: Edinburgh only comes 24th in the overall list with a 102% increase.

Exeter came out at the top of the five year survey, with a massive price increase of 156%, followed by Bath at 154% and Hereford at 149%, as the knock on effect from the south east continues its inevitable charge.

Other cities high up in the 5 year growth included Plymouth, Newcastle and Truro, again proving that places once considered traditionally ?far-flung? are no longer compensated as such by a low price tag.

In general the BOS found smaller cities performed better than larger ones, as nine out of the top ten had populations below 200,000, the exception being Plymouth.

Tim Crawford, Economist at the BOS said: ?House prices in cities tend to be higher than average and cities tend to be solid performers for house price growth over the longer term. There will always be demand from households wanting to be close to the services that cities provide and from employees wanting a shorter commute to their place of work.?