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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder why people pay extra for a posh postcode?

66 replies

NoHolidaysforyou · 08/05/2019 20:42

I was looking at a new build site up north and there was a floor plan I wanted to see at another site that was 4 miles away. The same floor plan at this other site was £70,000 more than the area I was looking at (the same house £410k in the original spot and £480k in the other postcode). It baffles me though because they are both nice areas with outstanding schools. The lady at the sales office got a bit defensive over the price (although I didn't ask about it) and said, "Well you pay for the postcode here." She then didn't seem to want to explain anything really about different houses that were available after I told her that we originally looked at the "cheaper" area.

AIBU to question why people pay for the privilege of living in a certain postcode? My husband almost suspected that we were being discouraged at looking at the nicer area.

The area was a village and would depend on the same facilities/infrastructure/hospital/university etc as the other postcode.

I don't get it. Would you pay extra for a specific postcode?

OP posts:

Calloway · 08/05/2019 20:45

Because other people pay extra for a specific postcode so when you go to sell you'll have lots of eager buyers. Better to have the crappest house on the best street etc.

Pipandmum · 08/05/2019 20:46

Location location location.

maidenover · 08/05/2019 20:47

Aren’t house and car insurance premiums based on postcodes?

Kpo58 · 08/05/2019 20:48

Sometimes your insurance is less if you have a good postcode.

LetsDialDownTheIanPaisley · 08/05/2019 20:50

What's the postcode?

malmi · 08/05/2019 20:52

You're not literally paying for the postcode, you're paying to live in the nicer area, which is indicated by the postcode. If you don't think that area is actually nicer then you can save some money by living in the 'less desirable' area.

PickAChew · 08/05/2019 20:52

It's not just about being posh. Some new builds near us are about 40% more in a development closer to the city centre and university, where there is more demand and land is at a premium and 25% less in a village a few miles out of the city, where demand isn't so great, amenities are fewer and further away and so on.

Original poster

NoHolidaysforyou · 08/05/2019 20:53

It sounds like the area is popular for being popular kind of like a person being famous for being famous. 😅

I don't think the insurance premiums would be too different in the two areas, they are both really nice. I could be wrong though. I don't think you would get that £70k back in insurance premiums.

OP posts:

MissKittyCat · 08/05/2019 20:53

Were there any differences such as size of plot, the direction the garden faced, quality of fixtures etc that could make a difference? Also if they are four miles apart there could other differences that make one more desirable - proximity to shops, public transport etc.

daisypond · 08/05/2019 20:55

Different council? So access to different schools, council tax costs, etc?

Bluntness100 · 08/05/2019 20:55

I think you've taken her too literally. She didn't mean people pay for the post code literally. She meant it was a nicer area, more desirable, and people pay more money to live in nicer more desirable areas. If you don't think it's nicer and more desirable, then live in the one with the cheaper price tag.

ImNotHappyaboutitPauline · 08/05/2019 20:56

I don't think too many people will pay extra just for a post code, rather it's whatever makes the other one a "posh" post code. That might be things like better schools, access to eg motorway/train station, facilities in the area.

Thinking about it I'm only @ 5 miles from where I grew up but it is a "more desirable" area for various reasons and therefore the houses and apartments cost more.

EssentialHummus · 08/05/2019 20:56

It’s not literally about the postcode, as others say. Obviously there’s a bit of cachet to living in x and not y, but it’s also stuff like the shops on the high street, how amenities are maintained (if different councils), the school’s intake (I live near two Outstanding schools, but I know which one I’d like dd to go to), whether there’s a local refuse facility, brownfield site, hospital, university...

SweetPeaPods · 08/05/2019 20:57

Cheaper insurance premiums?
Hopefully better neighbours?
Better travel networks?
Better schools?
We have recently moved and all of above apply, but we moved from a large town to a village that we wanted to live in rather than because of the postcode.

BarrenFieldofFucks · 08/05/2019 20:57

Some areas are more desirable than others...it isn't an unusual or new concept.

HoneyDragon · 08/05/2019 20:58

I live in a new build. I could have had the exact same house 75 miles away for £120k less. But the area we live and work in is 50 minutes from London and close enough to the Cotswolds to make the land premium. I’ve not paid for the postcode I’ve paid for the amenities.

ShirleyPhallus · 08/05/2019 21:00

I was looking at a new build site up north

There any posh postcodes at all up north?

Twickerhun · 08/05/2019 21:00

I’d pay more if I could for better transport access and proximity to better facilities and nice community

RaymondReddington · 08/05/2019 21:02

We live less than 2 miles on from the border of Cheshire in a new build in a different County.

The exact same house we live in is up for sale in a new build location over that boarder (probably about 4 mile away) and it is £85k more.

A Cheshire postcode is seen as ‘something’ to some people, but to me it doesn’t make sense.

PugPupsMum · 08/05/2019 21:03

Is there such thing as a posh postcode in the north?

Redglitter · 08/05/2019 21:03

Its not literally the post code as pp said it's the area the post code is in. I moved just a few miles from where I was previously. House prices where I am now are far higher but it's because of the village. It has fabulous schools and is generally considered one of the naicer places to live. My car and house insurance both dropped when I moved here.

Noone buys for a specific postcode. They pay a premium for the area the postcode represents

thetigerthatcamefortea · 08/05/2019 21:04

I work for a housebuilder so am often asked this!
Land.... land often determines the price. The price of land varies a lot....
plus as said by a pp, the house type might have been the same however plot position, direction of garden, what surrounds the house (green belt?) also have an effect.
Add on to the insurance premiums (can vary massively from one mile to the next) and schools, and train stations etc.
And finally what stage the site is at.
So for example. If you are at the beginning of the site you have the most to gain and will get a “better” price for the house. For various reasons, it’s still a field, there is no street scene, it’s hard for people to imagine how it will look, there are also less comparables in terms of value.
Once we start building “down the field” and the roads are in and the front gardens are in and it all begins to look “put together” then the prices reflect that.

bananamonkey · 08/05/2019 21:05

My friend lives one street over from a more “desirable” area, her house cost 50k less than an identical one in the next street. People pay for location.

Bluntness100 · 08/05/2019 21:06

A Cheshire postcode is seen as ‘something’ to some people, but to me it doesn’t make sense

Because it's not about rhe postcode. It's the area. People wish to live in that area I'd Cheshire for a reason, they see it as more desirable than where you are four miles away. You don't see it as more desirable and that's a win for you. But it's nothing to do with the postcode. It's the area.

And some areas being more desirable than others, is not a new concept, as a pp said.

Original poster

NoHolidaysforyou · 08/05/2019 21:07

Not sure if anyone knows the areas but one was in Fulwood (cheaper) and the other was Wrea Green (expensive). My satnav said I was only 4 miles away from the other when I looked it up.

OP posts:

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