What’s in a name? The value of an address

As Dataloft’s home town and having been declared the best place to live, we needed no further excuse to have a look at Winchester’s local housing market in a slightly different way. 

We are all aware that in general terms apartments are less expensive than houses, that garages, gardens or being close to a good school can add value to the price of a property; that certain areas are considered more ‘sought after’ than others. However, are certain street addresses more popular than others, and does the price of a property vary whether you live on a road, a street, in a close or on an avenue?  

Location, location, location

Over the last three years across Winchester and Alresford, two-thirds of all sales ended in one of five common suffixes. The most popular by far was Road. Close to one third of all property sales have occurred on a Road, twice as many as the second most popular Close. Just seventeen purchases were made on a Grove and 21 on a Walk. In fact, less than fifty sales took place on a Rise, a Square, a Crescent, a Yard and a Wall.  

The value of an address

Across Winchester, addresses that ended with the suffix Lane have commanded the highest purchase price over the last three years, with an average value of £607,565. This is a premium of 25.1% over the overall average price of a property. Avenue came a close second, enjoying a premium of 21.8%.

Properties sold on either a Hill or a Wood have also fetched higher than the overall average price, while if you’ve sold a property on a Road prices have been around par.

Properties sold on a Close have proved to have the lowest average sales price of our top 10, with average prices 40% cheaper than those on a Lane. 

When developing new sites, it is popular for developers to seek local opinion on the names of the new roads and streets. Maybe now is the time to start asking what value can be attached to such a decision? 

**This article was compiled by Dataloft Analyst Helen Marshall

**Dataloft are a team of top property industry analysts - they see the story in statistics. See their latest local area profile here.