Your guide to the up-and-coming suburbs of Portsmouth – where will be the next hot-spot location to live?

If you’re house-hunting in Portsmouth in 2025, you’re spoilt for choice - and not just by the seafront. While scenic Southsea still hogs the headlines, a clutch of neighbourhoods around the city are increasingly on buyers’ radars thanks to impressive new homes, regeneration projects, better leisure facilities, and handy commuting links.

Here SearchTD Ltd has put together its guide to the up-and-coming suburbs worth checking out and why developers and homebuyers are turning their attention north, east, and inland from the city’s traditional hotspots.

Victory Quay / Tipner (Tipner East)

Tipner - previously better known for its scrapyards and scrubland - is being reborn. The Victory Quay development at Tipner East will deliver some 800+ new homes on brownfield land, with riverside promenades, flood-defence works and improved walking and cycling links with the rest of the city thanks to an emphasis on sustainability. The scale of the project, backed by Portsmouth City Council, Homes England and local partners, is turning Tipner into a genuine waterfront neighbourhood rather than a forgotten industrial fringe. For buyers, this means new-build choice, affordable-housing options, and the potential of getting in early and reaping the benefits of a multi-year regeneration cycle.

Hilsea and the north-of-the-island corridor

Hilsea’s profile is rising for two reasons: big public investment in leisure facilities and the relative affordability of local housing stock. The Hilsea Lido restoration - part of a north-of-the-city improvement programme – is bringing fresh green-space and leisure activities to the area, while the wider “Hilsea Lines” and linear-park projects aim to make the northern corridor more attractive to families and first-time buyers. Whilst the number of property transactions in Hilsea have increased, property prices remain below the city average, making it a practical alternative for those priced out of central neighbourhoods. Excellent transport links via rail and the nearby M27 make the commute to some of the area’s biggest employers like Queen Alexandra Hospital or the Portsmouth Naval Base a breeze.

Fratton

Fratton has long been known as a working-class heartland with a strong sense of community and great connectivity. According to local estate agency Yopa, it’s now seeing a quiet resurgence, fuelled by first-time buyers and investors drawn to its affordability and proximity to the University and city centre. The area around Fratton Park - home of Portsmouth FC – is earmarked for regeneration as part of wider plans for improved public spaces. New cafés and small independent shops are adding vibrancy, and agents report quicker sales for well-presented terraces compared with pre-pandemic norms. With the station offering fast access to London Waterloo and the seafront a short bike ride away, Fratton is shifting from a “transitional” to “target” neighbourhood for young professionals and landlords alike.

City Centre North

Just north of Commercial Road and the Guildhall, the City Centre North area is poised for a significant transformation. Portsmouth City Council’s long-term regeneration masterplan includes new homes, retail and improvements for public spaces designed to reconnect the core of the city with surrounding neighbourhoods. Early-stage residential schemes and mixed-use developments are already changing perceptions of this historically under-used part of the city. While average property prices here are still below the Portsmouth average, agents expect steady appreciation as regeneration projects are established and buyers look for walkable access to the University of Portsmouth, the railway station and the expanding employment base around the civic quarter.

Southsea’s heritage regeneration

Southsea has always been one of Portsmouth’s most popular ‘lifestyle’ enclaves thanks to the charming seafront cafes, amusements and numerous, family-friendly events like the popular Victorious Festival each summer. That popularity makes it pricier, but there are still a number of renovation projects which make Southsea worthy of a second look for prospective homebuyers. The Southsea Village development on the disused St John’s College site is a prominent example. Of its 212 apartments, half will be created through conversion of existing heritage buildings, the rest new build. Further redevelopment is taking place at the Grade II listed WWI Assembly Hall in St James Park which will be transformed into a communal residents’ lounge and amenity space, as part of a larger development of 209 homes combining both heritage and newly built structures.