BRITAIN’S ‘GREEN PREMIUM’ REVEALED
Britons are willing to spend an extra £7 billion on homes that are close to public parks or open spaces.
New figures reveal an emerging ‘green premium’ in Britain’s cities, where public space is becoming scarcer thanks to increased development and the pressure on local authorities to sell off public space.2
The research, from ING Direct, questioned chartered surveyors and homeowners in Britain’s ten biggest cities, revealing that homes within walking distance of public parks now command as much as £10,000 above the typical house price, or £21,000 if in London.3
Outside the capital, the price boost is higher in cities with less public space. A prime example is Edinburgh, which has less green/public space than many cities – resulting in a ‘green premium’ of £10,700.4
The research is released as the government plans to relax planning laws as part of its National Planning Policy Framework, which campaigners claim could lead to green spaces disappearing in towns and cities across the country.
Commenting on the findings, Julian Hartley, Mortgage Director, ING Direct said:
“House-hunters are not only willing to pay more for a house near a public green space, many understand that this will be a significant premium and are factoring this into their savings plans.
“Furthermore, as planning regulations are relaxed and more local authorities sell off green areas for housing development, we’re likely to see the green premium increase significantly.”
If you are looking to find out how much you could borrow we recommend trying the ING Direct Mortgage Calculator.
Ends
For more information please contact:
Mark Lowe, Third City
mark@thirdcity.co.uk / T: 020 3174 1023 M: 07779 154346
Martin Rutland, ING Direct
Martin.rutland@ingdirect.co.uk / 01189 381969
ING Direct, 410 Thames Valley Park Drive, Reading, Berkshire RG6 1RH
Research methodology
Three research methods were used:
- PCP Market Research questioned a nationally representative sample of 2000 homeowners and renters from across the UK (August 2011)
- Chartered surveyors e-surv questioned surveyors working in Britain’s top 10 most populous cities, to assess their views on the % premium of being within walking distance of a park or green space that is open to the public
- www.green-space.org.uk provided data on the hectares of public green space and data on the overall hectarageof Britain’s top 10 cities. This was used to calculate the percentage of public green space in each city.
Footnotes
- We calculate that there are 44,700,000 homeowners/renters in the UK (93% of the adult population (48,081,000). 3.8% per cent of home owners/renters (1,700,000) are saving to buy a home with access to a park or open space. The average they would be prepared to pay for this is £4,276. Therefore total = 1,700,000 multiplied by £4,276 equals £7.27bn. (PCP)
- According to Charity GreenSpace, who monitor levels of publically available green space in Britain’s cities - see http://www.green-space.org.uk/
- A poll of surveyors in the 10 biggest UK cities found that proximity to a park increases asking prices by an average of five per cent in Edinburgh and London which equates to £10,700 and £21,000 in London based on RICS average house prices.
- According to http://www.green-space.org.uk/ Edinburgh has 6.2 per cent green space, compered to cities such as cities such as Bristol (7.5 per cent) and Sheffield (8.8 per cent).
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