Living near green spaces boosts property prices by £2,500 on average, ONS finds

Living next to green spaces such as parks, allotments, golf courses and playing fields can boost the price of a property by £2,500 on average, statisticians have found.

And having views of open greenery – or stretches of water such as rivers, canals, lakes or the sea – from the comfort of your home can command an even bigger premium.

Such views boost house prices by around £4,600 or 1.8% typically, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) found.

It looked at more than a million property sales in urban areas of England and Wales between 2009 and 2016 to make the findings.

It used details from property website Zoopla to estimate how much home buyers value nearby green space.

The ONS found that houses and flats within 100 metres of public green spaces are an average of £2,500 more expensive than they would be if they were more than 500 metres away.

This equates to home buyers paying an average premium of 1.1% to live near a green space.

Detached homes situated within 100 metres of a public green space can command a particularly high premium, adding around 1.9% to the price, the research found.

Looking just at flats, the boost of living near a green space is less pronounced, the ONS found.

It said that flats near green spaces are only 0.6% more expensive than those further away.

As well as using details from Zoopla, the ONS also used Ordnance Survey’s Open Greenspace data, gathered using maps and aerial imagery to make the findings.

Public parks or gardens, play spaces, playing fields, sports facilities, golf courses, allotments or community growing spaces, and religious grounds and cemeteries were included.

Adam Dutton, head of natural capital at the ONS, said: “Our analysis shows living near parks, gardens and playing fields or having a view over green space or water can have a real positive impact on the price of your house and the nearer the green space is, the higher the premium.

“We are continuing to uncover and improve our measurements of the ways in which nature impacts on people’s health, wealth and well-being in the UK.”

People can also visit the ONS website to find out the difference that public green spaces make to house prices near them.

The ONS tool works for urban areas in England and Wales and can be found at www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/articles/urbangreenspacesraisenearbyhousepricesbyanaverageof2500/2019-10-14.

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