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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Vicky Shaw

Hotspots where home buyers will get more – or less – floor space for their money

The sum of £200 would get home buyers in Westminster the equivalent of just a quarter of a sheet of A4 paper in floor space, while in Burnley in Lancashire this amount would stretch to more than two full sheets typically, according to analysis by a property website.

Zoopla carried out the analysis to underline to home buyers just how much space they can typically expect to get for their money in different locations.

Buyers in Westminster would have to pay £837 typically for floor space equivalent to one sheet of A4, or £686 in Kensington and Chelsea, and £665 in Camden, the website found.

Away from southern England, home buyers in major cities including Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Newcastle and Cardiff could buy a full sheet of A4-sized floor space for £200.

And £200 could get buyers at least two full sheets of A4 floor space in locations including Hull, Blackpool, Middlesbrough, Blaenau Gwent and Sunderland, according to the calculations.

Home buyers could get the equivalent of at least two full sheets of A4 of floor space in Blackpool for £200, Zoopla said (Peter Byrne/PA Archive) (PA Archive)

Looking at Scotland, in Edinburgh the average A4-sized floor space costs £204.

And in Yorkshire, an A4-sized floor space in York will set buyers back around £209 typically.

Zoopla has a tool which allows buyers to set a minimum square footage alongside their price range.

York was identified as the least affordable location in Yorkshire and the Humber in Zoopla’s study (John Walton/PA) (PA Archive)

Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, said: “Our analysis shows that the gap between what £200 gets you in Westminster versus what it buys in the North West is not just a number – it is the difference between a sliver of a page and two full sheets of paper.

“That is the true scale of Britain’s housing divide, and it is something every buyer and homeowner should understand as they plan their next move.”

Here are the most and least affordable locations in nations and regions, according to Zoopla, with the average cost of an A4-sized floorspace:

East Midlands

Most affordable: Boston, £115

Least affordable: South Northamptonshire, £206

Eastern England

Most affordable: Fenland, £138

Least affordable: St Albans, £351

In St Albans, home buyers face paying £351 typically for one A4 sheet of floor space (Chris Radburn/PA) (PA Archive)

London

Most affordable: Barking and Dagenham, £273

Least affordable: Westminster, £837

North East

Most affordable: Sunderland, £83

Least affordable: Northumberland, £134

North West

Most affordable: Burnley, £80

Least affordable: Trafford, £212

Scotland

Most affordable: Argyll and Bute, £74

Least affordable: Edinburgh, £204

South East

Most affordable: Portsmouth, £171

Least affordable: Elmbridge, £363

South West

Most affordable: Plymouth, £133

Least affordable: Christchurch, £243

Wales

Most affordable: Blaenau Gwent, £84

Least affordable: Monmouthshire, £179

West Midlands

Most affordable: Stoke-on-Trent, £104

Least affordable: Warwick, £213

Yorkshire and the Humber

Most affordable: North East Lincolnshire, £90

Least affordable: York, £209

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