4 out of 10 properties on the market in London have no outside space

"In heavily populated areas, developments are squeezed in and the reality is that private gardens takes up valuable square footage"

Not surprisingly, gardens are sparse in many Zone 1 areas of London, with just a third of properties on the market in Tower Hamlets having an outside space. You are more likely to find a property with a garden if you head to the outer boroughs. Top of the tree are the boroughs of Bexley and Bromley. More than four out of five properties currently for sale in Bexley (85.4 %) and Bromley (84.2%) have a garden.

Across the UK’s towns and cities, almost a third (31.4%) of properties on the market do not have access to a garden. If you consider yourself green fingered, steer clear of Gateshead as more than half (55.1%) of the properties on sale in the town lack a back garden. Three out of the five worst UK towns and cities for outside space are in the north west of England, and eight of ten of the worst cities are in north England.  

Contrast that with the coastal town of Grimsby, in Yorkshire and the Humber, which is the garden capital of the UK based on current property listings, with 93% of properties for sale boasting gardens.

The following table shows the top five and bottom five London boroughs in terms of properties currently being marketed that have a garden:

Looking at the top 10 UK cities with the largest populations, Liverpool (59.6%), London (60.5%) and Manchester (62.8%) rank the lowest in terms of properties on the market with gardens. Meanwhile Bristol leaves them green with envy, as close to 80% of properties listed for sale have outside space.

The following table shows the top 10 major UK cities in terms of population size and the percentage of current listings that have a garden:

Alex Gosling, CEO of online estate agents HouseSimple.com comments: “With the need to build more homes in the UK, and space at a premium, we could well see fewer and fewer new build properties with private gardens. Even new build family homes rarely come with the expansive back gardens you might have seen 30 to 40 years ago.

In heavily populated areas, developments are squeezed in and the reality is that private gardens takes up valuable square footage. Hence, we are likely to see more modern block of flats to meet housing demand, and the outside space will inevitably be sacrificed.

However, the death knell hasn’t been sounded for the back garden. There are plenty of towns, such as Grimsby, Crawley and Southport, where the majority of properties have private outside space. And moving further away from major cities, you’re more likely to find houses not flats and the large back garden you’re craving.”