Urban green spaces raise nearby house prices by an average of £2,500

Homes close to parks, gardens, playing fields and other publicly accessible green spaces in urban areas of England and Wales are more expensive than they would be if they were further away, Office for National Statistics (ONS) analysis reveals.

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 – an average premium of 1.1% in 2016.

We looked at the details of more than one million property sales in England and Wales between 2009 and 2016 from property website Zoopla (with permission) to estimate how much homebuyers value nearby green space.

Our analysis uses Ordnance Survey's Open Greenspace data, gathered using maps and aerial imagery. Public parks or gardens, play spaces, playing fields, sports facilities, golf courses, allotments or community growing spaces, and religious grounds and cemeteries are included – but woodlands, heaths and other open spaces that people might use for recreation are not.

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