The best high ground home buying options to avoid the wet weather

The Met Office has today warned that 2 inches of rain could fall in the next 12 hours with severe weather warnings issued across parts of the country. With more wet weather inbound, leading fast sale estate agent, Springbok Properties, has looked at the nation’s highest cities to avoid wet feet and the cost of buying a house across them.

Springbok Properties looked at the 20 highest cities in England according to the ONS, the average price of a property in each, and which offers the best property price per a metre of elevation (house price/highest point in metres).

Want to buy a reasonably priced home with the best chance of avoiding the floodwaters?

Stoke-on-Trent may not be the highest city in England at 275.9 metres but with an average house price of £114,128, it’s home to a property cost of £414 for every metre of high ground available.

Bradford is the second-best bet and with the accolade of the nation’s highest city at 324.9 metres, the average house price of £136,316 means you pay just £420 in property costs for every metre of elevation.

Sheffield (£531), Birmingham (£752), Sunderland (£844), Wolverhampton (£865), Leeds (£936), Plymouth (£1,066), Nottingham (£1,084) and Coventry (£1,137) are also some of the most affordable options for homebuyers when it comes to property price and high ground.

St Alban’s is the least affordable, with the highest point in the city just 128 metres and an average house price of £499,198, it costs a staggering £3,900 in property prices for every metre of elevation!

Founder and CEO of Springbok Properties, Shepherd Ncube, commented:

“It certainly seems as if our weather is getting wilder by the year and with the autumn and winter months often bringing a lot of rain, we thought it would be interesting to see where offers the best mix of home buying affordability and high ground to avoid any water damage.

High ground could well be one of the most underrated property features in the nation and with floodwaters causing thousands of pounds in damage every year, taking your property search to higher ground could be a wise idea in the long run.”

Heights of cities in England based upon the highest single point within a city extent
City
Highest point (metres)
Average house price
Price per metre
Stoke-on-Trent
275.9
£114,128
£414
Bradford
324.9
£136,316
£420
Sheffield
298
£158,149
£531
Birmingham
246.6
£185,359
£752
Sunderland
136
£114,760
£844
Wolverhampton
175.9
£152,069
£865
Leeds
198
£185,231
£936
City of Plymouth
167.8
£178,948
£1,066
City of Nottingham
131
£142,012
£1,084
Coventry
161.8
£183,897
£1,137
Newcastle upon Tyne
126.2
£153,049
£1,213
City of Derby
128.5
£159,221
£1,239
Leicester
131.1
£177,339
£1,353
Bath and North East Somerset
229.9
£327,059
£1,423
Exeter
149.7
£247,785
£1,655
City of Bristol
127.4
£274,121
£2,152
Brighton and Hove
155.6
£358,983
£2,307
Oxford
152.6
£396,387
£2,598
Winchester
144.9
£415,446
£2,867
St Albans
128
£499,198
£3,900
Locations ranked by the average house price divided by the highest point in metres.

Properganda PR

National and local media coverage for property businesses. Journo quotes delivered in minutes.

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

Council funding to crack down on rogue landlords

English councils are set to receive additional funding and training to help tackle rogue landlords, ahead of taking on new responsibilities when renters’ rights reforms come into force next month. All 317 local authorities in England will share £41 million in funding, building on an earlier £18 million allocation made last autumn. The funding is…
Read More
New Builds 2020
Breaking News

Fewer than 1 in 5 new properties securing buyer

New-build demand remains subdued as fewer than 1 in 5 homes find buyers in Q1 2026 The latest New-Build Stock and Demand Index from Property Inspect has found that demand for new-build homes remained subdued in the first quarter of 2026, with fewer than one in five new properties securing a buyer. New-build stock levels…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Top five AML red flags in UK property transactions

Cash-heavy and internationally supported purchases continue to shape the UK market New data from client due diligence platform Thirdfort reveals the most common anti-money laundering (AML) red flags identified in UK property transactions. Analysis of more than 415,000 completed Source of Funds (SoF) checks shows that the top five red flags are: Savings mismatch – 43.04% Gifted…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Discover Northern Ireland’s top emerging investment hotspots

Derry/ Londonderry and Fermanagh named Northern Ireland’s top emerging investment hotspots Northern Ireland’s emerging investment hotspots are delivering compelling opportunities for landlords in 2026, with new research from Belfast-based estate agency John Minnis revealing a shift in where investors are finding the strongest returns. Drawing on insights from the latest John Minnis Investment Guide, the…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News 13/4/26

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.   Why customisation matters more than capability Thought Leadership by Wes Snow CEO & Co-founder of Ascendix Technologies ‘There’s a persistent misconception that success with Artificial Intelligence comes down to selecting the most advanced or sophisticated tool. In reality, that’s not where the value lies. The real…
Read More
Rightmove logo
Breaking News

First-time buyers pay extra £307m in stamp duty since relief ended

New Rightmove analysis reveals that since the end of the temporary relief measure in April 2025, first-time buyers in England have paid an estimated £307 million extra in stamp duty, averaging £4,618 more per buyer: The total estimated first-time buyer stamp duty bill over the past year was £408 million, versus £101 million the previous year In April 2025 the first-time buyer stamp duty threshold was lowered from £425,000 to £300,000. Before the change 62% of homes for sale were stamp-duty free for first-time buyers and that has…
Read More