A new study has found that homeowners that live near a cemetery could potentially have 25% knocked off the value of their home.
HouseSimple.com looked at property prices on streets in 13 UK towns and cities which are next to cemeteries, and compared those prices to the average price for the postcode area. The figures revealed that house prices on these streets are on average 23% lower than the postcode average.
With around 14,000 cemeteries in the UK, this means hundreds of thousands of homeowners could be affected.
For example, the average property price overlooking St Patrick’s Cemetery in Leytonstone is £258,400, compared to the postcode average of £511,311. That’s half the average property price in the E11 postcode. Property prices next to Linthorpe Cemetery in Middlesbrough are 43.8% below the postcode average.
However, living next to a cemetery doesn’t appear to chill prices everywhere. Property prices next to Harehills Cemetery in Leeds are actually 7.4% higher than the postcode average, and prices next to Hollybrook Cemetery in Southampton are more than £17,000 higher on average than the average for the postcode.
Alex Gosling, CEO of HouseSimple.com, said: “For many of us, living next to a cemetery would cause us sleepless nights. But for buyers who aren’t easily spooked, they could pick up a bargain. And if you can get past the fact there are gravestones a few yards from your front door, what you’re actually overlooking is a serene and quiet space that is unlikely to ever be developed.”
Property prices on streets next to cemeteries compared to the average price of property in the postcode area
| Town/City | Name of cemetery | Postcode | Average price – Postcode | Average price – Road next to cemetery | % Difference between Rrad vs postcode average price
|
| London | St Patrick’s | E11 4HL | £511,311 | £258,400 | -49.9% |
| Middlesbrough | Linthorpe | TS5 5AN | £138,793 | £78,000 | -43.8% |
| Manchester | Southern | M21 7GL | £288,801 | £186,600 | -35.4% |
| Birmingham | Lodge Hill | B29 5AA | £196,127 | £131,000 | -33.2% |
| Bradford | Undercliffe | BD3 0QD | £80,796 | £58,400 | -27.7% |
| Newcastle | All Saint’s | NE2 1NL | £305,904 | £239,800 | -21.6% |
| Bournemouth | East | BH7 6JB | £315,187 | £255,600 | -18.9% |
| Stoke-on-Trent | Hanley | ST4 2DL | £125,561 | £109,400 | -12.9% |
| Liverpool | Anfield | L4 2SL | £76,714 | £70,400 | -8.2% |
| Sheffield | City Road | S2 1GD | £112,777 | £114,600 | 1.6% |
| Bolton | Heaton | BL1 4LH | £152,844 | £162,800 | 6.5% |
| Southampton | Hollybrook | S016 6HW | £253,143 | £270,600 | 6.9% |
| Leeds | Harehills | LS9 6LZ | £102,772 | £110,400 | 7.4% |
| Average | £204,979 | £157,385 | -23.22% |
Postcode comparison is a very crude measure of cost. Many houses in the postcode could be of a different type or size to those near the cemetery. The only real comparison would be to only compare houses of a similar type and size.