Nearby green space can add £ 2,500 to property price, ONS data shows – The Guardian, Theguardian.com

Living near a park, public garden or playing fields can add an average of £ 2, 500 to the price of your property, according to official data. And having a view of green space or water boosts prices even more.

While many will not be surprised to learn that a bit of nature on the doorstep is a desirable feature among homebuyers,this data is from the official Office for National Statistics, so it can arguably be relied upon more than findings from estate agents and other commercial bodies.

The ONS used details of more than 1m property sales within urban areas in England and Wales between 2009 and 2016 to estimate how much property buyers value nearby green space.

It found that houses and flats within 100 meters of public green spaces were an average of £ 2, 500 more expensive than they would be if they were more than 500 meters away – amounting to an average price premium of 1.1% in 2016.

Public green space boosted the prices of detached homes the most. These attracted a 1.9% premium if they were within 100 m of a park or similar space, but for flats, the premium was a lot lower: 0.6%.

Meanwhile, having a view over a green space or water boosted house prices by an extra 1.8% – an average of £ 4, 600 in 2016.

Public parks and gardens, play spaces, playing fields, sports facilities, golf courses, allotments and community growing spaces, and religious grounds and cemeteries were all included in the analysis. However, woodlands, heaths and other open spaces that people may use for recreation were not.

The ONS – which used details from the property website Zoopla to make its calculations – alsolooked at the value provided by “blue spaces”such as rivers, canals, lakes or the sea.

It found that the average financial contribution that green and blue spaces made to property prices was £ 2, 813 – a premium of about 1.2%. However, there was a great deal of variation around the country: in Bath, the premium was 3.7%, or just over £ 12, 300, and was above 2% in locations such as Manchester and Newcastle.

“We estimate that the total value of PAGS [publicly accessible green spaces] and blue spaces that is capitalized into property prices amounts to £ 77 .9bn, ”said the ONS.