Could allotments help solve the housing crisis by providing 600,000 new homes?

England’s allotments could provide space for over 600,000 new homes, according to the latest research by the estate agent comparison site, GetAgent.co.uk.

GetAgent’s research found that there are an estimated 4,554 allotments across the nation containing roughly 177,606 plots, each at an average size of 250 square metres. That’s a potential 44,401,500 square metres of allotment space, enough to build 604,513 new homes based on the average property size of 73.45 sqm.

With the average new-build house price in England currently £348,298, it also equates to £210.5bn worth of homes.

London is home to the greatest level of allotment new-build potential, with over 7m sqm of allotment space able to facilitate 95,575 new homes to the tune of £50.3bn in market value.

Tyne and Wear comes in second, with its 291 allotments spread across an estimated 2.8m sqm able to facilitate 38,628 new homes.

The available allotment space across the West Midlands (35,442), Greater Manchester (32,788), County Durham (27,478), West Yorkshire (22,566) and Hertfordshire (22,301) could also potentially accommodate over 20,000 new homes in each area.

Outside of London, Hertfordshire (£10.4bn), the West Midlands (£9.3m) and Tyne and Wear (9.3m) also rank top where the highest potential value of these new homes is concerned, with Surrey also home to a potential value of £8.5bn in allotment new-builds.

In contrast, just one allotment space is recorded in the City of London. Despite this, the 9,750 sqm could still see 133 homes built to the tune of £109.8m.

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

“Allotments can play a very important role within the community, particularly in our major cities, providing the outdoor space that many look to in order to relax, unwind and socialise. So in this respect, they are probably more valuable than any bricks and mortar market value.

However, we desperately need more homes, an issue that the government has been woefully poor at addressing. While we don’t suggest that allotments are the answer, we wanted to draw attention to the fact that more must be done.

Rather than sacrifice the nation’s allotments, there is a great deal of brownfield and wrongly classified green belt land that could go some way in helping deliver more homes. But until the government decides to pull its finger out, it will continue to sit unused and of no use to anybody.”

Allotment figures sourced from the National Allotment Society, Ealing council, the APSE Allotment Report and WhatShed. House price data sourced from the UK House Price Index (May 2021 - latest available). Herefordshire, Northumberland and Rutland excluded due to a lack of available data.
Table shows the number of allotments in each area, the total space based on an average of 39 plots per site at 250 sq m each, how many homes this could facilitate based on the average UK property size of 73.45 sqm and what this number of homes could be worth based on the current new build house price
County	Total number of allotment sites	Est number of plots at an average of 39 per site	Est area of allotments at 250 sq m per plot on average	Potential number of average size homes at UK average of 73.45 sq m	Average new-build house price	Potential value of New build homes
Greater London	720	28,080	7,020,000	95,575	£525,927	£50,265,625,718
Hertfordshire	168	6,552	1,638,000	22,301	£464,798	£10,365,402,881
West Midlands	267	10,413	2,603,250	35,442	£262,955	£9,319,794,289
Tyne and Wear	291	11,349	2,837,250	38,628	£240,996	£9,309,270,026
Surrey	120	4,680	1,170,000	15,929	£534,800	£8,518,942,510
Greater Manchester	247	9,633	2,408,250	32,788	£242,226	£7,942,004,134
Essex	137	5,343	1,335,750	18,186	£415,782	£7,561,339,702
Devon	127	4,953	1,238,250	16,858	£373,471	£6,296,129,101
Kent	122	4,758	1,189,500	16,195	£386,814	£6,264,325,220
West Yorkshire	170	6,630	1,657,500	22,566	£237,168	£5,352,017,026
City of Bristol	112	4,368	1,092,000	14,867	£318,908	£4,741,286,464
County Durham	207	8,073	2,018,250	27,478	£169,866	£4,667,560,244
Hampshire	90	3,510	877,500	11,947	£388,365	£4,639,762,863
Northamptonshire	95	3,705	926,250	12,611	£339,161	£4,277,034,580
Worcestershire	92	3,588	897,000	12,212	£348,596	£4,257,193,921
Staffordshire	108	4,212	1,053,000	14,336	£284,568	£4,079,640,405
Leicestershire	83	3,237	809,250	11,018	£344,705	£3,797,853,803
West Sussex	66	2,574	643,500	8,761	£430,115	£3,768,261,063
North Yorkshire	95	3,705	926,250	12,611	£293,221	£3,697,692,947
Lancashire	105	4,095	1,023,750	13,938	£252,492	£3,519,249,977
Cumbria	116	4,524	1,131,000	15,398	£227,266	£3,499,500,594
Derbyshire	96	3,744	936,000	12,743	£272,334	£3,470,455,172
Somerset	70	2,730	682,500	9,292	£334,463	£3,107,838,842
South Yorkshire	111	4,329	1,082,250	14,735	£202,534	£2,984,239,403
Berkshire	53	2,067	516,750	7,035	£408,886	£2,876,677,124
East Sussex	57	2,223	555,750	7,566	£379,487	£2,871,337,016
Warwickshire	53	2,067	516,750	7,035	£402,492	£2,831,691,063
Norfolk	61	2,379	594,750	8,097	£320,887	£2,598,334,329
Merseyside	87	3,393	848,250	11,549	£222,220	£2,566,343,327
Cheshire	62	2,418	604,500	8,230	£300,993	£2,477,197,604
Gloucestershire	42	1,638	409,500	5,575	£396,220	£2,209,013,065
Nottinghamshire	70	2,730	682,500	9,292	£237,177	£2,203,861,340
Buckinghamshire	32	1,248	312,000	4,248	£459,667	£1,952,567,497
Cambridgeshire	30	1,170	292,500	3,982	£403,510	£1,606,897,780
Wiltshire	29	1,131	282,750	3,850	£358,640	£1,380,605,215
Lincolnshire	40	1,560	390,000	5,310	£234,421	£1,244,712,313
Bedfordshire	24	936	234,000	3,186	£381,826	£1,216,437,374
Dorset	30	1,170	292,500	3,982	£301,871	£1,202,142,595
Oxfordshire	20	780	195,000	2,655	£443,585	£1,177,659,987
Suffolk	16	624	156,000	2,124	£351,160	£745,825,541
Shropshire	13	507	126,750	1,726	£284,550	£491,038,208
Cornwall	10	390	97,500	1,327	£277,343	£368,154,111
Isle of Wight	5	195	48,750	664	£279,408	£185,447,480
East Riding of Yorkshire	4	156	39,000	531	£269,438	£143,064,416
City of London	1	39	9,750	133	£827,241	£109,810,778
England	4554	177,606	44,401,500	604,513	£348,298	£210,550,917,306