Which city gives homebuyers the best chance of securing outdoor space?

New research from Yopa, the full-service estate agents, reveals which UK cities give homebuyers the best chance of securing a property with a garden.

Yopa has analysed 521,257 active for sale listings on the UK property market* and found that 78% (406,693) of them come with a garden, providing buyers with a good chance of securing a property with outdoor space.

However, for people who are looking to buy in a major city, the availability of garden properties can vary significantly.

There are two major UK cities where buyers have the very best chance of securing a home with a garden, and these are Swansea and Leicester.

In both of these locations, 83.4% of homes on the market come with a garden, while Nottingham (82.8%) and Bradford (80.8%) follow closely behind.

Sheffield rounds off the top five with 76.5% of all listings featuring a garden, while the top ten is completed by Leeds (75.8%), Edinburgh (75.7%), Manchester (73.6%), Newcastle (70.9%), and Cardiff (70.7%).

Buyers are going to have a much more difficult time finding a home with outdoor space in Birmingham where less than half of current listings (48.8%) feature a garden.

Elsewhere, garden properties account for just 52.8% of London listings, while Liverpool (56.9%) and Aberdeen (58.5%) also come in below 60%.

CEO of Yopa, Verona Frankish, said, “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. 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.”