Buying a house: the UK’s most expensive postcodes

We reveal the most expensive postcodes in which to buy a home, as well as the areas where you can purchase a property the cheapest

Aerial view of a suburban road in London
(Image credit: Getty images)

Location, location, location is crucial when it comes to buying a property; there are some areas where house prices are going to be simply out of your reach.

That remains the case, even given the potentially difficult 2023 faced by the housing market. The turmoil at the end of last year saw big increases in the interest rates charged on mortgages, which has understandably meant some buyers have paused their property buying plans. 

As a result, we have already seen a succession of house price indices report house prices are falling, with further drops expected across the year, which could eat into some of the substantial growth seen since the pandemic.

Buying and selling a property is renowned as a stressful experience, and the prospects of a potential downturn may cause you to think afresh about whether now is a good time to buy a house

When considering your next move, a useful place to start is the latest seller report from GetAgent, an estate agent comparison site. 

It reveals the postcodes where properties retain incredibly attractive prices for vendors, as well as those where low prices may make purchasing a property more attainable.

Colby Short, co-founder and CEO of GetAgent, says: “Despite the turbulent year of 2022 having had an adverse effect on many homeowners’ selling prices, it’s been really positive to see that sellers in many areas of the UK were able to achieve significantly more than their original asking prices.”

So where are the most and least expensive postcodes for a property?

The postcodes with the most expensive house prices

Short notes that living in a particular postcode can boost the value of your property by thousands. This might be down to falling within the catchment areas of prestigious schools, boasting good transport links for commuters, or simply having great amenities in the surrounding area.

Short adds: “Surprisingly, while you might assume that homes closer to the capital would fetch higher asking prices, our research actually shows that it’s countryside destinations that are topping the list of expensive postcodes.”

While the most expensive postcodes are dominated by areas within London, the following breakdown focuses on locations outside of the capital.

Top of the tree was the GU25 postcode, which is located in Runnymede, Surrey. Here properties have an average asking price of almost £3.3m. It’s perhaps unsurprising that it is an area in such high demand, given its proximity to London but also the stunning countryside surroundings.

It was followed by PA70, which is found on the Isle of Mull, off the coast of Scotland. It’s undoubtedly a pricey place to buy a home, with an average asking price of a little under £2.7m. The Isle of Mull is the second-largest of the Inner Hebrides and boasts a combination of beautiful beaches and stunning wildlife.

The top three were rounded out by Much Hadham in East Hertfordshire. Again, it benefits from excellent transport links into London and has an average property price of an eye-watering £2.68m.

Here is how the 20 most expensive postcodes shape up, according to the GetAgent study:

Swipe to scroll horizontally
RankPostcodeTownRegionAverage asking price
1GU25Virginia WaterRunnymede£3,278,055
2PA70Isle of MullArgyllshire£2,697,500
3SG10Much HadhamEast Hertfordshire£2,689,229
4SL8 Bourne EndSouth Buckinghamshire£2,376,742
5PA44Isle of IslayArgyllshire£1,826,429
6KT13WeybridgeElmbridge£1,809,080
7EH38North MiddletonMidlothian£1,582,398
8HP9BeaconsfieldChiltern£1,550,392
9GL9BadmintonGloucester£1,470,141
10GU20WindleshamSurrey Heath£1,464,692
11WD7ShenleyHertsmere£1,419,058
12TQ8SalcombeSouth Hams£1,416,007
13HP8Chalfont Saint GilesSouth Buckinghamshire£1,390,590
14BH13Canford CliffsPoole£1,368,257
15TN7HartfieldWealden£1,339,082
16KT11CobhamElmbridge£1,329,113
17RG9HambledenSouth Oxfordshire£1,278,068
18SO42BeaulieuNew Forest£1,274,018
19GU8ChiddingfoldWaverley£1,261,512
20SL5 AscotWindsor and Maidenhead£1,243,449

Source: GetAgent 

The postcodes with the cheapest house prices

At the other end of the scale, the four postcodes with the lowest average asking prices are all found north of the border.

The GetAgent study found that the cheapest of all was PA15, found in Greenock, Renfrewshire. Here, the average asking price was just £64,699.

It was followed by KA16, which is Newmilns in East Ayrshire, where the typical property will set you back a little under £70,000.

The first non-Scottish postcode to feature is BD1, for Bradford City centre, in fifth place. If you want to buy a home in the city, you’ll be faced with an average asking price of £81,610.

Below is how the 20 postcodes with the lowest average asking prices look, according to the GetAgent data:

Swipe to scroll horizontally
RankPostcodeTownRegionAverage asking price
1PA15 GreenockRenfrewshire£64,699
2KA16NewmilnsEast Ayrshire£69,049
3G34EasterhouseGlasgow£74,130
4KA25KilbirnieNorth Ayrshire£78,110
5BD1Bradford City CentreBradford£81,610
6DN31GrimsbyNorth East Lincolnshire£92,844
7TS2MiddlehavenMiddlesbrough£94,291
8DL4ShildonCounty Durham£96,443
9CF43FerndaleRhondda Cynon Taf£96,757
10TS3ThorntreeMiddlesbrough£96,777
11ZE3BushShetland£97,500
12G22MiltonGlasgow£99,250
13KA8DalmillingSouth Ayrshire£99,291
14KA20StevenstonNorth Ayrshire£102,227
15KA28MillportNorth Ayrshire£104,435
16G21BarmullochGlasgow£104,435
17G67CumbernauldNorth Lanarkshire£105,525
18PA3PaisleyRenfrewshire£106,629
19AB24AberdeenAberdeen£110,263
20L4AnfieldLiverpool£110,449

Source: GetAgent 

The most and least expensive places to buy a home in London

But what about the capital itself? Each and every one of the 10 most expensive postcodes within London were located within the borough of the City of Westminster.

Top place went to W1K in Grosvenor Square, where you will have to cough up a whopping £7m in order to purchase a home. It was followed by W1S in Hanover Square (average asking price of £6.4m) and SW1X in Belgravia (average asking price of £6m).

If you want to find a more affordable option within London, then it’s worth looking further from the city centre.

According to the GetAgent study, cheapest of all was the DA18 postcode, which is Erith Marshes in Bexley. Here you can pick up a home for an average of £251,079. It was followed by RM20 in West Thurrock and RM19 in Purfleet, Thurrock, which had average asking prices of £265,912 and £266,285 respectively.

The best time to sell your home

If you’re selling your home and want to maximise the price you get ‒ and can’t rely on living in one of the most expensive postcodes ‒ then timing is crucial.

GetAgent’s report dug into the best times for selling a property, and found that spring and summer are particularly popular. March, May and June were found to be the most common months for listing a property, which it suggested was likely down to the improving weather and the fact that vendors and buyers are more available ‒ it’s not slap bang in the middle of the summer holiday season, for example.

According to the data, in March 371,208 properties were put up for sale, followed by 357,592 in May and 338,646 in June.

By contrast, November, December and October were the months with the fewest number of listings. GetAgent argued this was down to vendors wanting to avoid the stress of selling their home and moving over the Christmas period.

Home sales are rarely a quick process, after all ‒ according to the research, the average time taken to sell a home is 95 days.

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Nicole García Mérida
contributor

Nicole graduated with a BA in Journalism & Communications from Cardiff University and then went on to do a Masters in Magazine Journalism at City, University of London. She started off as an editorial assistant at MoneyWeek in 2019, and now as well as contributing to the website she’s a writer and section editor for the magazine. Outside of work she loves cooking and eating, her dog Moose and her cat Fish, and buying more plants than she can fit in her house.

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