How much value does a garden add to my house?

Does a garden add value to a house?

Yes, in most places, though the amount varies far more than headlines suggest. A garden premium is the extra a buyer pays for a home with private outdoor space compared with a similar home without it.

Housebuilder Tilia Homes compared Zoopla asking prices across 82 UK towns and cities, in research reported on 4 September 2026. Homes with a garden were advertised at £75,598 more on average, 27.8% above homes without one.

Why do the garden figures vary so much?

Most studies compare asking prices for homes with and without gardens, and those groups are rarely like for like. Homes without gardens are mostly flats and homes with gardens are mostly houses, so part of every headline premium is simply the gap between a flat and a house.

The range inside Tilia's own figures shows how much location matters. The garden gap was £232,752 in Stevenage, £28,510 in London and just £815 in Doncaster. In London, expensive flats without gardens raise the average for homes with no outdoor space, which narrows the gap.

Does the size of the garden matter?

Yes. Savills research reported by Property Industry Eye on 22 May 2023 measured value per square foot, which strips out the size of the house. Neighbourhoods in the top tenth for outside space averaged £353 per square foot, against £216 for those with the smallest outside space.

The effect differs between town and country. In urban areas, homes with the largest outside space sold at a 12.9% premium to the local average and those with the smallest at a 17.7% discount. In rural areas, the premium was 8.3% but the discount for a small garden was 24%, because buyers there expect outdoor space.

Is a south-facing garden worth more?

On average, a little. Rightmove's analysis of about 400,000 three and four-bedroom homes, published on 29 July 2020, found homes listed with a south-facing garden advertised at about 7% more, around £22,695, and finding a buyer two days faster on average.

Rightmove's own expert added that the figure is an average, and that condition and location matter too. If your garden faces north, its length, privacy and condition will weigh more with buyers than its direction.

Does living near a park add value too?

Slightly. The Office for National Statistics analysed over one million sales in England and Wales and reported on 14 October 2019 that homes within 100 metres of a public green space cost about £2,500 more, a 1.1% premium, than similar homes more than 500 metres away. The premium was 1.9% for detached houses and 0.6% for flats, and a view over green space or water added a further 1.8%.

Is it worth sorting out the garden before I sell this autumn?

Usually, as long as you keep the spend small. Most of a garden's value is fixed: you cannot change its direction or add 20 metres. What you can change is how it looks in listing photos and on viewings, which matters more in October and November, when lawns and borders look their most tired.

• Cut the lawn, clear fallen leaves and edge the borders before the photos are taken.
• Clean the patio and paths, and remove anything broken or rotting.
• Repair or paint fence panels and the shed if they look visibly tired.
• Clear old toys, bins and garden waste so the space looks usable.
• Add a couple of pots by the back door and a small table and chairs to show how the space can be used.

Bigger projects, such as new decking, full landscaping or a garden room, rarely return their full cost before a sale. A local agent who knows what buyers on your street expect can tell you whether a particular project is worth doing first.

Most of a garden's value is already in the price. Before a sale, the job is to make sure buyers can see it.

How will an agent value my garden?

Agents compare your home with recent sales of similar homes nearby, then adjust for the differences. A larger, more private or sunnier garden than the comparable homes can support a higher figure; a smaller, overlooked or shared one can pull it down.

That adjustment is local judgement. Agents who sell homes on your street know what buyers there pay for outside space, which is why their read is more useful than any national average.

Common questions about gardens and house prices

ValuQ gives UK homeowners free, side-by-side property valuations from competing local estate agents. Each agent sees your photos and property details, garden included, and tells you what your home would sell for on your street. Agents never get your details until you choose.