It’s well-known that local infrastructure and services can have a huge impact on what your house is worth. Being in the catchment area of a good school for example can significantly increase the value of your property.
With the amount of time we now spend online for work, learning, and leisure, having fast broadband is more important than ever. But across the UK, there is a large disparity in the quality of broadband connectivity available in different towns and cities. While some towns have average download speeds of more than 1000Mbps, some areas are stuck with download speeds of 30Mbps, or even less.
The broadband speeds available at your address can have a significant impact on the value of a given property. Here at Broadband Savvy, we crunched the numbers to see how faster broadband is correlated with what your home is worth.
We found that for each megabit increase in average download speeds, average property prices for a given town or city rise by £21,231.
Methodology
We first found the average residential property prices for the 100 most populous towns and cities in the UK, as of 2022. For each of these cities, we then found the average download speed. This was the average download speed that residents currently report, not the average should each resident choose to use the fastest broadband provider and package available to them.
Each town or city was then grouped into one of five sets, based on its average property price. For each set, the average broadband speed was then computed.
At this stage, the difference between average broadband speeds for the cheapest and most expensive towns and cities was recorded, to calculate the average price increase or decrease as download speeds increased.
Results
| Average property price | Average broadband download speed |
| £100,000-£199,999 | 92.96Mbps |
| £200,000-£299,999 | 81.69Mbps |
| £300,000-£399,999 | 91.13Mbps |
| £400,000-£499,999 | 102.57Mbps |
| £500,000+ | 111.8Mbps |
As can be seen from the average speed for each set of towns and cities, property prices are higher in locations with faster broadband.
Interestingly, average broadband speeds were slower for towns/cities with an average sale price of between £200,000-£299,999 than in towns/cities with an average sale price of £100,000-£199,999, at 81.69 and 92.96Mbps, respectively.
This is because there are a few cities in the £100,000-£199,999 range that acted as outliers, skewing broadband speeds higher for this segment. For example, in Kingston upon Hull, average property prices are approximately £137,000, but KCOM offers very fast broadband in the region, pushing average speeds up to 169Mbps. It’s a similar story in Belfast, where average speeds reach 172Mbps, despite property prices being relatively cheap.
Across the entire analysis, the majority of towns and cities with average speeds of at least 100Mbps proved to have relatively expensive average property prices. This includes extremely popular cities such as London, Cambridge and Oxford, as well as locations such as Sutton Coldfield, Watford, Worthing, and Gillingham.
About the author
Tom is the founder of Broadband Savvy. He has more than five years’ experience writing broadband tutorials, reviewing routers and internet service providers, and explaining broadband-related concepts. Tom is experienced as a writer, and also produces videos for the Broadband Savvy YouTube channel.
He currently specialises in writing content for Broadband Savvy designed to help people understand broadband jargon and terminology, increase their download and upload speeds, and improve their Wi-Fi connectivity. Tom also occasionally contributes to buyer’s guides and review articles on Broadband Savvy, utilising his knowledge of the broadband market in the UK.
When he’s not writing about broadband, you’ll find him walking his dog (Rex) or playing agar.io.
Tom,
Great piece. Do you have any data on what % increase in value a superfast fibre optic to the premises can add to a property. Or point me in right direction please.
Thanks
John
Hi John,
It’s a bit hard to say. We would probably approach that problem by looking at how much the value of a property is reduced by only having ADSL speeds. As of 2024, a significant majority of properties have superfast, and many have ultrafast as well. We’d estimate you would lose at least 5% or maybe 10% of value by only having ADSL internet. But this would mostly affect rural properties at this stage.