Crime doesn’t pay if you’re a home seller - here are the best places to buy an affordable crime-free home

They say crime doesn’t pay and this is certainly the case for the nation’s home sellers, with the vast majority of homebuyers stating they would offer below asking price for a home in an area with a high crime rate. That’s according to the latest property market research by estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk, who also revealed which pockets of the market offer the best mix of the lowest crime rate and the most affordable property prices.

The average crime rate in England and Wales is currently at 90, although this can climb as high as 3,000 in postcodes home to the highest rate of crime.

GetAgent asked the nation’s homebuyers if they would offer below asking price on a home if it was located in an area with a high crime rate. A huge 70% stated that they would use a high crime rate as a bargaining chip to secure a property for less. That’s if they put an offer in, to begin with, as 86% of those surveyed also said they wouldn’t bother buying in an area with a high crime rate in the first place.

So where should they start their search?

GetAgent also looked at the best areas for low crime and property affordability based on current crime rates and house prices.

Most affordable crime-free property postcodes

The SA40 postcode in Carmarthenshire came out on top, with a crime rate of just 38 and an average house price of £266,809, the area scored 4.1 in GetAgent’s index of house price affordability and crime rates.

In fact, Carmarthenshire also accounted for a further three of the top 10 postcodes, with SA34 (4.9), SA39 (5.1) and SA66 (5.3) also scoring well.

The SY17 postcode in Powys (4.9) ranked second for house price affordability and low crime rates, with Copeland’s LA18 (5.2) and Pembrokeshire’s SA37 (5.4) postcodes also performing well. The EX19 (5.4) and EX24 (5.6) postcodes in Exeter also made the top 10, along with the DN19 postcode in North Lincolnshire (5.7).

High house prices and crime rates

At the other end of the table, London’s EC3 postcode covering parts of the City of London and Tower Hamlets ranks as the worst. With property prices averaging £858,868 and a crime rate of 2,532, the area scored 3,874 in GetAgent’s index.

In fact, London accounts for seven of the top 10 worst areas for high house prices and crime rates, with Birmingham’s B2 postcode (895.8), Liverpool’s L2 postcode (535.1) and Bristol’s BS1 postcode (293.7) also featuring.

Best and worst by region - To see which postcodes rank as the best and worst in your region, check out the data table below.

Founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, Colby Short, commented:

“Crime is an incredibly influential factor when it comes to choosing where to live and will often form part of a homebuyer’s initial search criteria.

However, as is often the case, we find ourselves having to compromise on what we might find an acceptable level due to other factors such as a desired location and affordability of property prices.

When taking crime rates into account, it’s as important to conduct your research at the most granular level as possible. All too often, we look at an overall crime rate in a city or neighbourhood but this can be misleading.

By diving into the data you might well find that the vast majority of crimes in an area are concentrated in a completely different part of a given town or city to the area you might wish to buy in, or that the crimes in question don’t influence your decision-making process to the same extent.

For example, crimes such as shoplifting or anti-social behaviour may rank as less of a deterrent for actual homebuyers compared to more serious issues such as violent crimes or burglary.

There are some great databases out there that allow you to really drill down and analyse crime rates on a crime by crime basis in a given area and these are a great place to start to get a realistic idea of whether you might like to live somewhere or not.”

● Survey of 1,116 UK homebuyers carried out by Find Out Now (11th February 2021).

● The overall crime rate is based on crimes per 1,000 people in each postcode over the last 12 months (Source: PropertyData)

● Property prices are based on the latest available asking prices in each postcode (Source: PropertyData)

● Crime to house price affordability score for each area based on a combined price and crime rate figure subsequently translated to a score format through factor division ((Source: GetAgent.co.uk)

Would you buy a property in an area with a high crime rate?
Answer	Respondents
No	86%
No choice due to my budget for buying a home	7%
Yes	7%

Would you offer below asking price due to an area having a high crime rate?
Answer	Respondents
Yes	70%
No	30%

*Table shows the best postcodes in England and Wales for house price affordability and a low crime rate*
Postcode	Average house price	Average £/sq ft	Crime rate	Crime/House Price Affordability Score	Location
SA40	266,809	£109	38	4.1	Carmarthenshire
SY17	218,056	£162	30	4.9	Powys
SA34	261,165	£139	35	4.9	Carmarthenshire
SA39	190,457	£118	43	5.1	Carmarthenshire
LA18	130,537	£106	49	5.2	Copeland
SA66	261,664	£135	39	5.3	Carmarthenshire
SA37	286,071	£158	34	5.4	Pembrokeshire
EX19	320,867	£224	24	5.4	Exeter
EX24	342,733	£282	20	5.6	Exeter
DN19	222,574	£153	37	5.7	North Lincolnshire

*Table shows the worst postcodes in England and Wales for house price affordability and a low crime rate*
Postcode	Average house price	Average £/sq ft	Crime rate	Crime/House Price Affordability Score	Location
EC3	£858,868	£1,530	2,532	3,874.0	City of London/Tower Hamlets
EC4	£766,393	£1,146	1,486	1,703.0	City of London/Westminster
WC2	£1,734,536	£960	1,475	1,416.0	Camden/Westminster/City of London
B2	£184,531	£298	3,006	895.8	Birmingham
W1	£2,380,399	£1,078	742	799.9	Westminster
EC2	£1,130,929	£955	804	767.8	Islington/Hackney/City of London
L2	£140,998	£274	1,953	535.1	Liverpool
W2	£1,029,498	£1,221	243	296.7	Westminster
BS1	£362,702	£390	753	293.7	Bristol
SW1	£1,415,773	£1,049	277	290.6	Westminster/Kensington and Chelsea

*Table shows the best postcodes in each region of England and Wales for house price affordability and a low crime rate*
*Region*	*Postcode*	*Average house price*	*Average £/sq ft*	*Crime rate*	*Crime/House Price Affordability Score*	*Location*
East Midlands	LN10	£302,766	£202	44	8.9	Lincoln
	LN7	£283,499	£158	57	9.0	Lincoln
	PE22	£231,191	£159	62	9.9	Boston

East of England	IP23	£358,676	£243	35	8.5	Mid Suffolk
	PE33	£303,837	£205	42	8.6	West Norfolk
	IP29	£399,468	£282	32	9.0	St Edmundsbury

London	DA7	£447,500	£406	65	26.4	Bexley
	RM12	£426,155	£425	67	28.5	Havering
	BR4	£647,542	£467	61	28.5	Bromley

North East	NE43	£392,950	£187	31	5.8	Northumberland
	DL13	£160,948	£105	63	6.6	County Durham
	NE49	£145,511	£128	66	8.4	Northumberland

North West	LA18	£130,537	£106	49	5.2	Copeland
	LA10	£250,742	£218	30	6.5	South Lakeland
	CA27	£258,411	£179	37	6.6	Copeland

South East	PO39	£302,775	£230	51	11.7	Isle of Wight
	OX44	£457,889	£375	32	12.0	South Oxfordshire
	PO35	£390,449	£306	41	12.5	Isle of Wight

South West	EX19	£320,867	£224	24	5.4	Exeter
	EX24	£342,733	£282	20	5.6	Exeter
	EX35	£296,328	£220	31	6.8	Exeter

West Midlands	SY10	£323,383	£186	42	7.8	Shropshire
	WV7	£286,356	£223	36	8.0	Wolverhampton
	WR15	£322,622	£215	39	8.4	Worcester

Yorkshire and the Humber	DN19	£222,574	£153	37	5.7	North Lincolnshire
	DN41	£225,549	£165	38	6.3	North East Lincolnshire
	DN39	£249,047	£148	44	6.5	North Lincolnshire

Wales	SA40	£266,809	£109	38	4.1	Carmarthenshire
	SY17	£218,056	£162	30	4.9	Powys
	SA34	£261,165	£139	35	4.9	Carmarthenshire

*Table shows the worst postcodes in each region of England and Wales for house price affordability and a low crime rate*
*Region*	*Postcode*	*Average house price*	*Average £/sq ft*	*Crime rate*	*Crime/House Price Affordability Score*	*Location*
East Midlands	NG1	£167,964	£223	661	147.4	Nottingham
	DE1	£151,361	£171	598	102.3	Derby
	LE1	£127,905	£180	501	90.2	Leicester

East of England	RM20	£264,249	£303	478	144.8	Thurrock
	CB2	£480,187	£476	221	105.2	Cambridge
	WD17	£389,328	£474	215	101.9	Watford

London	EC3	£858,868	£1,530	2,532	3,874.0	London
	EC4	£766,393	£1,146	1,486	1,703.0	London
	WC2	£1,734,536	£960	1,475	1,416.0	London

North East	NE1	£161,015	£219	973	213.1	Newcastle
	SR1	£69,587	£86	602	51.8	Sunderland
	TS18	£145,912	£142	322	45.7	Stockton-on-Tees

North West	L2	£140,998	£274	1,953	535.1	Liverpool
	L1	£122,789	£217	1,093	237.2	Liverpool
	CH1	£218,144	£230	196	45.1	Cheshire West and Chester

South East	MK9	£248,782	£328	708	232.2	Milton Keynes
	BN1	£399,854	£471	176	82.9	Brighton and Hove
	GU1	£420,223	£494	165	81.5	Guildford

South West	BS1	£362,702	£390	753	293.7	Bristol
	BH2	£235,932	£286	449	128.4	Bournemouth
	BH1	£212,340	£258	320	82.6	Bournemouth

West Midlands	B2	£184,531	£298	3,006	895.8	Birmingham
	B4	£285,134	£254	613	155.7	Birmingham
	B5	£212,303	£269	336	90.4	Birmingham

Yorkshire and the Humber	LS1	£196,347	£215	1,347	289.6	Leeds
	YO1	£379,806	£380	610	231.8	York
	BD1	£58,355	£124	1,198	148.6	Bradford

Wales	CF10	£178,665	£205	509	104.3	Cardiff
	CF11	£207,395	£245	183	44.8	Cardiff
	NP20	£183,495	£178	207	36.8	Newport