Price per square foot is the asking price or the sold price divided by the floor area, and it is the only figure that puts a two-bed flat, a three-bed terrace and the house next door on one scale. The average price per square foot by postcode uk investors look up is that figure worked over the recent sales in a district, and it is the number an asking price is tested against: a house priced well above the postcode's average per square foot is being priced as something special, and the survey and the comps will say whether it is. Read beside the rent per square foot from the lets in the street, it is the beginning of the deal appraisal. This page sets out where the figure comes from, what it hides, and how it is read.
Where the floor area comes from, and why it is the weak link
The floor area is on the EPC for almost every dwelling in England and Wales, recorded when the certificate was issued, and on the floorplan the agent publishes. The two do not always agree, an EPC measured on one basis and a floorplan drawn on another, and a figure per square foot is only comparable when every property in the comparison was measured the same way. The rent comparables sheet on this site asks for the floor area of each comp and of the target for that reason, and the one thing it cannot check is that the investor used one source for all of them.
Where the average price per square foot by postcode comes from
From the Land Registry's price paid data, which records every sale with its price and its postcode, joined to a floor area from the EPC register or the listing. A postcode's average is then a set of sales of different sizes and conditions over a period, and it hides the difference between the refurbished house on the corner and the tired one three doors down. It is a district's figure, useful for testing whether an asking price is in the district at all, and useless for saying what one house is worth.
Reading the two figures together
The asking price per square foot and the rent per square foot from the comps are the two halves of a first reading: one says what the vendor wants for the space, the other what the street pays to live in it. A property whose asking price per square foot is above the postcode's average and whose rent per square foot is at the street's is a property the investor is paying extra for and will not be paid extra for. The sheet returns both figures on one page; the appraisal on cash after finance and costs follows from them, and the file keeps all three against the property.
Questions people ask about price per square foot
What is a good price per square foot?
There is no good figure, only the postcode's recent sales and the property's condition against them. A price above the district's average needs a reason on the survey or the plan; one below it needs a reason too, and it is usually the same survey.
Where can I find the average price per square foot by postcode uk?
Worked from the Land Registry's price paid data joined to floor areas from the EPC register, which several data platforms publish by postcode district. This site publishes no table of its own; the record keeps the figure you read, with its source and date, against each deal.
Should I compare per square foot or per bedroom?
Per square foot, always, because a bedroom is any size and a square foot is one size. Bedrooms are how a listing is described; floor area is how it is measured.