ROMSEY has been named as one of the South East's top upcoming property hotspots.

According to a study by specialists Boomin, the market town is the fourth best in the region.

Boomin fared Romsey against ten separate factors including house price increase, search demand and even the positivity of the news in each area.

Beaten only by Royal Tunbridge Wells, Fareham and Witney, Michael Bruce, the town has been labelled as a top place to live.

Group CEO and Founder of Boomin, Michael Bruce, said : “At Boomin, we want to empower our customers to ‘get there first’ and find what really is their dream home. A huge aspect of this is finding the right area to live in before things get too competitive, so we wanted to go beyond just house price increases as an indicator of how ‘sought after’ an area is, and look at what the modern home owner really wants.

"Taking into account everything from proximity to schools and crime rates, to how many restaurant options there are in the area, has allowed us to shine a light on the places people might not have been considering, but could be just what they’re looking for. Be it Gower, Wigan or Romford, we’re excited to help people find the home that’s right for them."

The full study took into account: percentage increase in house prices over a 3- and 1-year period: ONS; number of pubs, schools and gyms within the local area: Open Street Map; entrepreneurship (number of businesses in the local area): ONS; • Crime Rates: UKCrimeStats; percentage increase in search demand (searches for ‘move to [location]’): Google Ads Keyword Planner; restaurant/takeaway reviews: Deliveroo; restaurant/takeaway options: Deliveroo; percentage increase in social media posts regarding a ‘move to [location]’: Twitter; positive/negative sentiment of news articles about local area: RapidAPI (based on Google News); average earnings in the local area: ONS.