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

October 16, 2019

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.

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