- Garden lovers buying in towns with the country’s finest gardens can expect to fork out a premium of over £58,500
- House prices near Chelsea’s Physic Garden and Brockhole Garden in Windermere are more than double the county average
- House prices in ‘garden towns’ have blossomed by 34% in the past decade
Green-fingered house hunters looking to live near the country’s finest gardens will need to unearth an extra £58,554 (22%) for the privilege, according to new research from Halifax.
The average house price of homes surrounding 50 of the country’s finest gardens is £321,953, compared to an average price of £263,399 for its county – a premium of £58,554 (22%).
Properties near Chelsea’s Physic Garden command the highest percentage house price premium compared to the county; at 171% (cash equivalent of £1,188,199).
Next is Brockhole Garden in Windermere (106% or £188,830) followed by Chatsworth House Gardens, near Bakewell, which played host to its first Royal Horticultural Society Flower Show in June 2017 (94% or £174,649).
10 Garden Towns with Largest % Premium to County, 2017
Garden town average house prices have grown by 34% since 2007
The average house price in the top 50 ‘garden towns’ polled has risen from £240,891 in 2007 to £321,953 in 2017 – growing 34%.
The Chelsea Physic Garden – the oldest botanical garden in London has seen the greatest bloom in house price increases over the past decade at 108%. Syon Park Garden in Hounslow (72%), Cambridge Botanic Garden (66%), Kew Gardens in Richmond (65%) and RHS Wisley in Surrey (57%) have recorded the next largest growth.
Eight of the top 10 garden towns with the highest average house price growth since 2007 are in Greater London and the South East, with Cambridge Botanic Garden in East Anglia (66%) and Tatton Park Gardens in Cheshire (42%) making up the 10.
10 Garden Towns by Highest % House Price Growth, 2007 – 2017
A third of garden towns are cheaper than the county average
Homes near Osborne House Gardens on the Isle of Wight are the cheapest compared to the county average at -23% or £51,631 in cash terms. This is followed by Biddulph Grange Garden in Staffordshire (-21% or £36,935), RHS Rosemoor in Devon (-20% or £49,729) and Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire (-17% or £30,463). The research found that 11 of the 17 garden towns with house prices below the county figure are in the South East and South West.
10 Garden Towns with Largest % Discount to County, 2017
The most expensive garden towns are in London and the South East
Chelsea is the most expensive area with a fine garden – Chelsea Physic Garden – where the average house price is £1,884,255. These are followed by the areas around Kew Gardens (£848,124), Syon Park Garden (£494,933) and Sissinghurst Castle Gardens (£482,086). Outside of London and southern England, the towns containing Tatton Park Gardens (£434,040) and Cambridge Botanic Garden (£431,931) make the top 10 most expensive towns with fine gardens.
10 Most Expensive Garden Towns, 2017
At the opposite end of the scale, the towns around Biddulph Grange Garden with an average price of £140,810, Clumber Park (£144,282) and Speke Hall & Garden (£152,145) are the least expensive garden towns.
10 Least Expensive Garden Towns, 2017
Martin Ellis, Halifax housing economist, said: “Budding horticulturalists hoping to live near one of the country’s most beautiful gardens open to the public will have to pay a premium for the privilege, as towns able to provide wide open ‘green’ spaces are highly desirable places to live.”
Source: Land Registry data – refers to the simple arithmetic average price over the 12 months to February 2017.
The research is based on a total of 50 (including 2 London Boroughs) garden town locations in England & Wales and takes the average price for the postal town (e.g. Halifax) and comparing it to the average price of the county (e.g. Yorkshire & the Humber)
The prices used are simple arithmetic (‘crude’) averages. These prices are not standardised and therefore can be affected by changes in the sample from period to period.
© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of Land Registry under delegated authority from the Controller of HMSO.