House prices in 'BL1 8', Bolton
This article reveals price per square foot data and various charts to help you understand current housing market in 'BL1 8' (Bolton) - statistics were last calculated on 03 December 2024.
Defining 'BL1 8'
This analysis is limited to properties whose postcode starts with "BL1 8", this is also called the postcode sector. There are no official postcode sector names so I've just labelled it BL1 8, Bolton. It is shown in red on the map below.
Want to change geography?
You can click on the map above to change to a neighbouring sector, or you can use the search form below.
Price per square foot
Knowing the average house price in BL1 8 is not much use. However, knowing average price per square foot can be quite useful. Price per sqft allows some comparison between properties of different size. We define price per square foot as the sold price divided by the internal area of a property:
£ per sqft = price ÷ internal area
For example in October 2024, 11, Brindley Street, Bolton, BL1 8QF sold for £146,500. Given the internal area of 570 square feet recorded on the EPC, the price per sqft is £146,500 ÷ 570 sqft = £256.
England & Wales have been officially metric since 1965. However house price per square foot is prefered by some estate agents and those of sufficiently advanced age ;-). It is a huge pain to code the automatic conversion for square meters to square feet for all the graphs and charts on BL1 8 and elsewhere. All the conditionals turn my tidy code for into spaghetti. I will get around to it at some point, but for now you can just divide everything by 10 in your head, move a decimal place and you'll be close enough. If you want to be more precise 1 sqm = 10.76391 sqft.
Distribution of £ per sqft for 'BL1 8' vs 'BL1'
The chart above is called a histogram, it helps you see the distribution of house price per sqft in BL1 8 To make this chart we put all the sales data into a series of £ per sqft 'buckets' (e.g. £218 to £232, £232 to £246, £246 to £260 etc...) we then count the number of sales with within in each bucket and plot the results. The histogram is based on 244 sales that took place in BL1 8, Bolton in the last 24 months.
Generate a custom histogram like the one above but based on your own criteria.
You can see the spread of prices above. This is because although internal area is a key factor in determining valuation, it is not the only factor. Many factors other than size affect desirability; these factors could be condition, aspect, garden size, negotiating power of the vendor etc.
The spread of prices will give you a feel of the typical range to expect in BL1 8, Bolton. Notably, only 25% of properties that sold recently were valued at more than £242 sqft. For anything to be valued more than this means it has to be more desireable than the clear majority of BL1 8 homes.
Box plot of £ per sqft for BL1 8
Tip: click on the chart to see the values.
The chart above is called a boxplot (or a box-and-whisker plot). Box plots, like histograms, are used to graphically represent the distribution of data, showing the central tendency, spread of the distribution. In the context of £ per square foot property price distributions, box plots represent the variation in property prices within a geographic area e.g. Bolton. The chart above shows a boxplot for 'BL1 8' as well as the 'BL1' postcode district.
Property price map for Bolton
Have a look at the interactive price map I created for myself. Use it to explore 'BL1 8' house prices all the way down to individual property plots.
House price map for BoltonBolton house price forecasting
I cannot tell what house prices will do in the future and don't believe anyone who says they can. However we can plot price trends, I have done this in the chart below for BL1 8 (Bolton) compared with the wider postcode district of BL1. You can extrapolate from this based on your own views on future interest rates, inflation and other factors.
House price index for BL1 8
Tip: click on the legend items to show/hide different lines
Download house price index as CSV (premium users only).
The chart above shows changes in 'BL1 8' property prices over the last 20 years. The index is calculated from the average price paid per sqft for property in BL1 8 and is set to 100 in 2004. I'm comparing the trends for BL1 8,Bolton with the wider postcode district of BL1 What is more interesting is to look at the difference between flats and houses, even those in the same area follow a very different trend, to get a robust enough sample size to see this we need to zoom out and look at house price trends for the entire Bolton local authority.
The dashed lines show nominal house price changes, the solid lines show the same data adjusted for inflation. Economists call this the 'real' price change. You have to take inflation into account when comparing prices over time. It's calculated using the formula:
Real Rate of Return = (1 + Nominal Rate) ÷ (1 + Inflation Rate) – 1In this formula, the nominal rate is the rate of change before any adjustments, and the inflation rate is taken from the Consumer Price Index. The real rate of return is a more accurate measure of change in value, because £1 today does not have the same buying power as £1 in the past. For example, if a savings account pays an interest rate of 3% per year and the inflation rate is 5% per year, the real rate of return is -2%. This means that the investment's value is shrinking by 2% each year.
Historic returns for BL1 8
| BL1 8 sector | BL1 district | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominal | Real | Nominal | Real | |
| 20 yr per annum | 4.0% | 1.3% | 3.3% | 0.7% |
| 20 yr total | 120.3% | 30.5% | 93.1% | 14.4% |
| 10 yr per annum | 5.1% | 2.3% | 4.7% | 1.8% |
| 10 yr total | 64.8% | 25.1% | 57.9% | 19.8% |
| 5 yr per annum | 5.5% | 1.3% | 5.7% | 1.5% |
| 5 yr total | 30.5% | 6.8% | 31.6% | 7.7% |
| 1 yr per annum | 3.7% | -0.4% | 4.8% | 0.6% |
| 1 yr total | 3.7% | -0.4% | 4.8% | 0.6% |
This table complements the house price index chart above, presenting the data in a more detailed format. It breaks down the information into 20-year, 10-year, 5-year, and 1-year periods, further categorized by property type. For each period, we display both a per annum rate of change and a total rate of change.
The total rate of change represents the overall change over the entire period. The formula for total return is:
Total return = (Index at end of period ÷ Index at start of period) - 1
The per annum rate of change is the annualized rate of change over the period. This is equivalent to the annual bank savings rate you would need to achieve the same total return over the given period. This annualized return is also known as the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR). The formula for CAGR is:
CAGR = (1 + Total return) ^ (1 ÷ Number of years) - 1
Some specific examples:
- Over the past 20 years, BL1 8 sector have seen a 1.3% annual change when adjusted for inflation. This translates to a total change of 30.5% in real terms.
- Over the past 5 years, BL1 8 sector have seen a 1.3% annual change when adjusted for inflation. This translates to a total change of 6.8% in real terms.
Most recent BL1 8 sales
For the most recent sales activity, rather than a summarized average, it is better to see the underlying data. This is shown in the chart below, where blue dots represent individual sales, click on them to see details. If there is an obvious trend you should be able to spot it here amid the noise from outliers.
Tip: hover over dots to see details
Street level data
| Street | Avg size | Avg £sqft | Recent sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashworth Lane, Bolton, BL1 8R | 96 sqm | £192 | 29 |
| Waterside Gardens, Bolton, BL1 8W | 57 sqm | £141 | 24 |
| Astley Brook Close, Bolton, BL1 8R | 59 sqm | £147 | 17 |
| Temple Road, Bolton, BL1 8D | 83 sqm | £213 | 16 |
| Hallbridge Gardens, Bolton, BL1 8U | 107 sqm | £196 | 14 |
| Cotton Meadows, Bolton, BL1 8F | 80 sqm | £276 | 13 |
| Astley Brook Close, Bolton, BL1 8S | 58 sqm | £154 | 12 |
| Sandileigh Drive, Bolton, BL1 8U | 81 sqm | £229 | 12 |
Search for your street here.
Nearby geographies
The table below shows how 'BL1 8' compares to the other postcode sectors in BL1.
| Sector | Lower quartile | Median | Upper quartile | Sales in last 2yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BL7 9 Bromley Cross | £212 sqft | £265 sqft | £319 sqft | 329 |
| BL2 3 Bolton | £208 sqft | £267 sqft | £311 sqft | 234 |
| BL2 2 Bolton | £122 sqft | £150 sqft | £188 sqft | 211 |
| BL1 8 Bolton | £138 sqft | £178 sqft | £242 sqft | 244 |
| BL1 7 Bolton | £176 sqft | £236 sqft | £278 sqft | 248 |
| BL1 6 Bolton | £157 sqft | £195 sqft | £235 sqft | 223 |
| BL1 5 Bolton | £191 sqft | £236 sqft | £291 sqft | 263 |
| BL1 4 Bolton | £120 sqft | £150 sqft | £175 sqft | 271 |
| BL1 3 Bolton | £125 sqft | £146 sqft | £178 sqft | 221 |
| BL1 2 Bolton | £109 sqft | £134 sqft | £196 sqft | 55 |
Raw data
Our analysis of BL1 8 is derived from what is essentially a big table of sold prices from Land Registry with added property size information. Below are three rows from this table to give you an idea.
| Address | Paid | sqft | £/sqft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11, Brindley St, Bolton | £146,500
Oct-2024
|
570 | 256 |
| 154, Temple Rd, Bolton | £245,000
Oct-2024
|
1,054 | 232 |
| 140, Waterside Gardens, Bolton | £75,000
Sep-2024
|
398 | 188 |
About
I created HouseMetric because I wanted to see this data and analysis myself, I also wanted to teach myself to build a website. Please give me feedback or spread the word about it. I'm constantly tinkering and adding more stuff to it.