UK house prices 155% higher in areas of military significance

Houses in postcodes belonging to buildings of military significance, such as the Churchill War Rooms and Bletchley Park, tend to have higher prices when compared to the wider area, a new study has shown.

Estate agent Benham and Reeves analysed house price data in postcodes home to ten military locations and found that on average property prices hit £618,225 ($819,768); a whopping 155% higher than the current average in Great Britain.

Hampshire’s Beaulieu Palace is home to the biggest price premium. The former finishing school for special ops agents is located in the New Forest’s S042 postcode where house prices are currently 107% higher than the area around it.

The Frythe in Hertfordshire is home to the second-highest house price. During the war, it was used as a secret research factory developing vehicles and camouflage equipment. Today house prices in the postcode are 69% higher than its surrounding postcodes.

House prices in the SW1 postcode, where the iconic Churchill War Rooms are located, come in at £1.4m, 49% higher than the wider average in Westminster. It’s an underground complex that housed the government command centre during World War II.

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Director of Benham and Reeves, Marc von Grundherr, explained that these higher prices “aren’t so much an indicator of buyer demand, but more a demonstration of the pride taken in maintaining these locations and remembering the significant roles they played in their day.”

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The average UK house price could hit £362,350 ($470,872) by 2045, should the market continue to see property values climb at the same rate, recent research by estate agent Barrows and Forrester has found.

It was reported last month that most UK estate agents and property surveyors expect house prices to be higher in a year’s time despite the economic crisis.

Figures suggested Britain’s recent housing market boom is showing no signs of running out of steam and a continued flight to more rural areas, with growing coronavirus infection rates and lockdown restrictions failing to curb the rush to move.