Cheapest Postcode Areas to buy Detached Houses

The words 'cheap' and 'detached' do not usually go together in a sentence. Detached houses are the most expensive on average of the four standard types of property: flats/apartments, terraced houses, semi-detached houses and detached houses. However, if you are a rare first-time buyer dreaming of starting with a detached house, where can you get the best value?

Based on sales data from February to August 2019 (Land Registry data), we've looked at the data to see how prices for detached houses vary around the country and have compiled the table below showing the average prices for postcode areas having 20 or more sales during this time period.

What the data reveals is the massive variance in price of detached properties around the country. Whilst it is impossible to get a detached house for under £200,000 anywhere, on average, the cheapest places to buy are Galashiels and Sunderland. In Sunderland, the average sale value for a detached house during the period was £236,430. That could realistically be within the budget of some first-time buyers.

Of course, as you move south, prices get a lot higher quite rapidly. There are over 30 postcode areas where the average price of a detached house is above the half-a-million pounds mark. For instance, in Guildford if you wanted to buy a detached house then on average you'd need to have £700,000 or more to spend. Remember most postal areas are quite large so do cover a lot of different places: thus within the GU postcode area (Guildford) then prices will vary from place to place, but the averages give a good indication of generally which areas are more or less expensive around the country.

As ever, London is the most expensive. There are seven areas where you'd need over a million pounds to buy a detached house. In three of those, the prices are quite eye-watering, with the costs being over two million pounds. Most expensive of all was West London, with average detached house sale prices of £2,649,293. Here's the full table.

Rank	Postcode Area	Sales in period	Average Sale Value
1	Galashiels	28	£228,481
2	Sunderland	248	£236,430
3	Doncaster	1963	£239,416
4	Durham	640	£240,351
5	Llandudno	1581	£242,707
6	Swansea	1671	£245,165
7	Cleveland	1378	£252,402
8	Wigan	467	£253,773
9	Lincoln	1307	£257,845
10	Darlington	845	£259,172
11	Wakefield	1083	£260,796
12	Llandrindod Wells	165	£261,679
13	Blackpool	503	£268,687
14	Oldham	481	£269,870
15	Blackburn	696	£271,574
16	Carlisle	847	£272,630
17	Sheffield	2456	£274,313
18	Hull	726	£280,500
19	Stoke-on-Trent	1547	£281,418
20	Nottingham	3249	£284,771
21	Telford	677	£285,034
22	Wolverhampton	602	£285,290
23	Bolton	550	£298,907
24	Liverpool	877	£299,055
25	Preston	1352	£299,300
26	Newcastle upon Tyne	1809	£299,555
27	Chester	1472	£301,312
28	Peterborough	3349	£302,082
29	Bradford	776	£302,552
30	Derby	2313	£303,040
31	Shrewsbury	1135	£308,174
32	Newport	937	£310,535
33	Walsall	851	£312,080
34	Cardiff	1479	£313,752
35	Crewe	1231	£318,699
36	Huddersfield	495	£322,628
37	York	1592	£323,590
38	Dudley	688	£326,032
39	Norwich	2556	£332,854
40	Manchester	769	£334,941
41	Halifax	158	£340,448
42	Hereford	535	£340,831
43	Plymouth	1234	£346,344
44	Leicester	2515	£346,751
45	Lancaster	648	£347,350
46	Northampton	1879	£355,478
47	Colchester	1326	£369,736
48	Taunton	942	£370,044
49	Ipswich	1824	£372,093
50	Truro	917	£374,940
51	Leeds	1153	£380,437
52	Worcester	931	£380,753
53	Exeter	1767	£380,939
54	Coventry	1792	£395,226
55	Torquay	821	£397,980
56	Swindon	1288	£407,515
57	Birmingham	2184	£408,491
58	Warrington	1140	£408,708
59	Dorchester	612	£412,637
60	Portsmouth	1584	£426,621
61	Salisbury	699	£427,713
62	Bath	1015	£430,370
63	Canterbury	978	£436,498
64	Gloucester	1601	£440,125
65	Rochester	931	£446,311
66	Stockport	1145	£448,278
67	Bristol	1410	£448,538
68	Southend-on-Sea	924	£453,758
69	Luton	388	£454,263
70	Milton Keynes	1455	£458,019
71	Bournemouth	2047	£465,851
72	Harrogate	339	£503,631
73	Brighton	1441	£509,259
74	Southampton	1547	£515,719
75	Oxford	1503	£523,424
76	Cambridge	995	£532,459
77	Dartford	299	£550,268
78	Tunbridge Wells	1624	£566,034
79	Stevenage	779	£584,056
80	Chelmsford	1568	£586,626
81	Romford	283	£591,911
82	Reading	1769	£615,129
83	Redhill	1308	£644,825
84	Guildford	1742	£707,842
85	Southall	111	£722,142
86	Croydon	402	£722,338
87	Hemel Hempstead	1009	£730,119
88	Sutton	182	£745,115
89	Bromley	365	£809,655
90	Enfield	240	£818,573
91	St Albans	338	£882,209
92	Harrow	257	£918,968
93	East London	31	£927,976
94	Watford	248	£932,402
95	Slough	547	£957,914
96	Twickenham	281	£982,368
97	Ilford	135	£1,003,864
98	South East London	119	£1,062,875
99	Kingston upon Thames	927	£1,100,953
100	North London	88	£1,539,046
101	South West London	95	£2,118,258
102	North West London	118	£2,546,522
103	West London	41	£2,649,293