"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"
- Verona Frankish - Yopa
New research from estate agency Yopa has revealed the UK cities where buyers are most likely to find a home with a garden, with Swansea and Leicester offering the strongest odds.
The analysis looked at 521,257 active property listings across the UK and found that 78%, a total of 406,693 homes, currently for sale include a garden. While this suggests a strong national supply of outdoor space, the availability of garden properties varies widely depending on location, particularly in urban areas.
In Swansea and Leicester, 83.4% of homes on the market include a garden, giving buyers in those cities the best chances. Nottingham follows closely behind with 82.8% of listings featuring outdoor space, while Bradford ranks fourth at 80.8%. Sheffield rounds out the top five, where 76.5% of available homes come with a garden.
Other major cities with relatively high proportions of garden-equipped properties include Leeds at 75.8%, Edinburgh at 75.7%, Manchester at 73.6%, Newcastle at 70.9%, and Cardiff at 70.7%.
In contrast, buyers may face more challenges in cities such as Birmingham, where only 48.8% of properties currently on the market offer a garden. London fares slightly better at 52.8%, while Liverpool stands at 56.9% and Aberdeen at 58.5%. These are the only major UK cities in the study where garden properties account for fewer than 60% of listings.
The findings come at a time when interest in outdoor space remains high among buyers, particularly in light of post-pandemic lifestyle changes. While securing a garden may be easier in some locations than others, most major UK cities still offer a reasonable level of supply. This is especially true outside the capital and the largest metropolitan areas.
“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," comments Yopa's CEO, Verona Frankish. "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."
"So if you spot a great garden property, it’s best be proactive when it comes to booking viewings and making offers, but you should also avoid getting embroiled in a bidding war that overstretches your budget because if you miss out on one opportunity, there’s a good chance another will arrive before long.”
