Feb 07, 2023 by HM

House prices in Highwoods (CO4 9)

This article reveals price per square metre data and various charts to help you understand current housing market in Highwoods (CO4 9).

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Price per square metre

Knowing the average house price in Highwoods is not much use. However, knowing average price per square metre can be quite useful. Price per sqm allows some comparison between properties of different size. We define price per square metre as the sold price divided by the internal area of a property:

£ per sqm = price ÷ internal area

E.g. 22, Gordian Walk, Highwoods, Colchester, sold for £280,000 on Sep-2023. Given the internal area of 59 square metres, the price per sqm is £4,745.

England & Wales have been officially metric for many decades. However house price per square foot is sometimes prefered by those of sufficiently advanced age. They may want to convert metres on this page to square feet.

The chart below is called a histogram, it helps you see the distribution of this house price per sqm data. To make this chart we put the sales data into a series of £ per sqm 'buckets' (e.g. £3,800-£4,000, £4,000-£4,200, £4,200-£4,400 etc...) we then count the number of sales with within in each bucket and plot the results. The chart is based on 253 sales in Highwoods (CO4 9) that took place in the last two years.

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.

That said, the spread of prices will give you a feel of the typical range to expect in Highwoods (CO4 9). Of the 253 transactions, half were sold for between £3,570 and £4,510 per square metre. Notably, only 25% of properties that sold recently were valued at more than £4,510m². For anything to be valued more than this means it has to be more desireable than the clear majority of homes.

For the average, we calculate the 'median' or middle price. The median price per square metre in 'CO4 9' is £4,150. The table below shows how 'CO4 9' compares to neighbouring postcode sectors.

Postcode sector	Lower quartile	Middle quartile	Upper quartile
CO4 3 Colchester	£2,890m2	£3,400m2	£4,040m2
CO4 5 Mile End	£3,080m2	£3,520m2	£4,110m2
CO4 9 Highwoods	£3,570m2	£4,150m2	£4,510m2
CO4 0 Colchester	£3,210m2	£3,650m2	£4,130m2
CO4 6 Colchester	£3,380m2	£3,850m2	£4,350m2

Will Highwoods house prices drop in 2024?

I cannot tell the future and don't believe anyone who says they can. I can however plot price trends - I have done this in the scatter plot below for CO4 9 (Highwoods). From this one could infer a range of reasonable possible future price falls or rises. In the chart below, the red dashed line is the house price trend for CO4 9 and the blue dots are the individual property sales that inform this trend.

Disclaimer: The data provided throughout this website about Highwoods and any other area, is not financial advice. Any information provided does not and cannot ever take in to account the particular financial situation, objectives or property needs of either you or anyone reading this information. Furthermore, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of any data shown. This information is based on sold prices and internal area data provided by Land Registry and other third parties - I do not verify the accuracy of the Highwoods data or any other data I am given.

Price map for Highwoods

I've just finished coding the map I link to below. I find it useful and I am sure it will help you in exploring Highwoods. You can zoom in all the way to individual properties and then all the way back out to see the whole country. The colours show the current estimated property values. I will explain more about the methodology and create a key next week.

House price heatmap for Highwoods

Street level data

Street	Avg size	Avg £/m2	Recent sales
Derwent Road, Highwoods, CO4 9R	61m2	£4,141	30
Weetmans Drive, Highwoods, CO4 9E	78m2	£2,954	28
Gavin Way, Highwoods, CO4 9F	94m2	£3,353	22
Chinook, Highwoods, CO4 9X	58m2	£3,920	20
Hanbury Gardens, Highwoods, CO4 9T	51m2	£3,140	18
Cleveland Close, Highwoods, CO4 9R	55m2	£3,796	17
Victoria Gardens, Highwoods, CO4 9Y	57m2	£3,416	16
Enville Way, Highwoods, CO4 9U	50m2	£3,672	15

Search for your street here.

New build activity

Street	Avg size	Avg £/m2	New build sales
Memorial Way, Highwoods, CO4 9A	110m2	£3,611	23
Widgery Way, Highwoods, CO4 9A	112m2	£3,702	11

Memorial Way, Highwoods, CO4 9A has seen 23 new build sales in the last 4 years (average price £410,478). These new build homes typically have an internal area of 110 m2, with an average price of £3,611 m2. This £sqm average is £-539 below the average for CO4 9. New builds typically command a £ per sqm premium. In the case of Memorial Way the premium seems not to exist. Without more info we can only speculate why this may be. Perhaps it may be greater density and smaller gardens, but this is just a guess.

Raw data

Our analysis of Highwoods 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	m2	£/m2
22, Gordian Walk, Highwoods, Colchester	£280,000 Sep-2023	59	4,745
73, Chinook, Highwoods, Colchester	£285,000 Sep-2023	48	5,937
19, Cleveland Close, Highwoods, Colchester	£240,000 Sep-2023	55	4,363

See the entire list of all sales in Highwoods (CO4 9) here.