New research by estate agency Yopa has revealed significant regional variation in the availability of homes with gardens across the UK, offering fresh insight into how urban buyers can improve their chances of securing outdoor space.
Based on an analysis of more than 521,000 active property listings, the data shows that 78% of homes currently on the market across the UK come with a garden – offering a broadly favourable picture for buyers prioritising private outdoor space.
However, the likelihood of finding a garden-equipped property falls sharply in certain major cities.
Swansea and Leicester jointly top the list, with 83.4% of homes currently for sale in each city featuring a garden. Nottingham (82.8%) and Bradford (80.8%) also rank highly, alongside Sheffield, where 76.5% of listings include outdoor space.
GREEN FINGERS
Other urban centres offering relatively strong chances of finding a garden property include Leeds (75.8%), Edinburgh (75.7%), Manchester (73.6%), Newcastle (70.9%) and Cardiff (70.7%).
By contrast, some of the UK’s largest metropolitan areas fall well below the national average.
In Birmingham, fewer than half of listings (48.8%) include a garden, the lowest proportion among cities surveyed.
London, where space constraints are a longstanding issue, also ranks low at 52.8%. Liverpool (56.9%) and Aberdeen (58.5%) complete the list of cities where outdoor space is less readily available.
STRONG COMPETITION
Verona Frankish, Chief Executive of Yopa, says: “I think it’s fair to say that finding a home with a garden is a priority for most homebuyers, especially since the pandemic when people who didn’t have outdoor space started to feel particularly claustrophobic.
“And when buying in a city or urban area, a lot of people reasonably think that securing a garden property is going to be an uphill battle.
“It’s welcome news, therefore, to see that across most major cities, at least 70% of all current listings do actually come complete with a garden. But while stock levels are good in most places, buyers should be aware that competition for great gardens can often be strong especially if you’re buying during the summer when we tend to give more attention to what sort of outdoor space a property offers.”
