Mapped: Where home buyers are getting the least floor space for their money

Home buyers in Westminster are getting just a quarter of an A4 sheet in floor space per £200, new research has found, in stark contrast to some areas where the same sum can secure more than two full sheets.

Property website Zoopla conducted the research to highlight the significant variations in the amount of space buyers can expect for their money across different UK locations. The study revealed that in Westminster, a single A4-sized area of floor space carries an average price tag of £837. This figure remains high in other prime London boroughs, with Kensington and Chelsea demanding £686 and Camden £665 for the equivalent space.

Moving away from the capital, the analysis showed that £200 could purchase a full A4 sheet of floor space in major cities including Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Newcastle, and Cardiff. For those seeking even greater value, locations such as Hull, Blackpool, Middlesbrough, Blaenau Gwent, and Sunderland offer at least two full A4 sheets of floor space for the same £200 investment.

Looking at Scotland, in Edinburgh the average A4-sized floor space costs £204.

And in Yorkshire, an A4-sized floor space in York will set buyers back around £209 typically.

Zoopla has a tool which allows buyers to set a minimum square footage alongside their price range.

Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, said: “Our analysis shows that the gap between what £200 gets you in Westminster versus what it buys in the North West is not just a number – it is the difference between a sliver of a page and two full sheets of paper.

“That is the true scale of Britain’s housing divide, and it is something every buyer and homeowner should understand as they plan their next move.”

In more difficult news for first time buyers, Rightmove found earlier this week that in England, they have have collectively paid an estimated £307 million extra in stamp duty since a temporary relief measure ended in April 2025.

This was an average of £4,618 more been paid per buyer, the property website found. The total estimated first time buyer stamp duty bill over the past year was £408 million, versus £101 million the previous year.