The cost of buying a house in Bristol continues to spiral, with many previously affordable areas of the city now seeing even its standard two or three bed homes on the market for anything between a quarter and half a million pounds.
With six of the ten ‘hottest’ areas in the country which have seen the fastest price increases over the past ten years all in Bristol, there’s no doubt buying an actual house, as opposed to a flat or apartment, is out of reach for many Bristolians.
But there are still bargains out there - not many - where people can get their hands on the freehold of a house with its own front door, bedrooms upstairs, a roof and a garden out the back. There are currently a grand total of six houses on the market in Bristol that have been valued at £175,000 or less, and some of them are even in those ‘sought-after’ areas that have seen prices spiral out of control.
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It won’t be a surprise to know that all of them would probably require quite a bit of work after buying them to bring them up to standard for 2024, but for those on a budget who want a project and can put a lot of the work in themselves, the dream of owning a house in Bristol could be within reach.
Here is our list of the six most affordable houses on the market in Bristol right now.
Whitehall
This is a two-bed terraced house in Woodbine Road, Whitehall, an area that has consistently been listed as one of the places in Britain that has seen the fastest rising property prices over the past ten years. Most homes will fetch £350,000-£450,000, some even more, but this one is up for auction with a guide price of £150,000 - although that obviously might end up going up a bit, depending on the bidding.
Estate agents Hollis Morgan say it requires modernisation but there’s a lot to work with here - it’s a standard two-up-two-down with an upstairs bathroom and scope to go up into the loft too and out the back too - it doesn’t have the standard L-shape extension common on terraced homes.
Downstairs, there’s a front room and a back kitchen of reasonable size, and a back yard that could be transformed into something special. It’s up for auction in June. More information here.
Easton
Another property that is nominally priced at £150,000, but is up for auction on May 22 with McHugh & Co. The end of terrace house is ideally located on the corner of Church Street in Easton, close to Stapleton Road train station and St Marks Road.
The whole property will need updating and transforming, but the good news is that the loft has already been done. There’s no upstairs toilet or bathroom, only a shower room out the back, but the front room and back room downstairs have already been knocked through with a kitchen out the back. More information here.
Southmead
Tucked away in Southmead is this potentially cute little bungalow on Twenty Acres Road - it’s listed as a one-bed, but could actually be two bedrooms. There’s a lounge, kitchen and shower room too, and a fairly big garden. It’s up for auction with Taylors with a guide price of £165,000.
Warmley
Some properties are more affordable because they need a lot of work, others because of their location. This one in Warmley is on the affordable end of the spectrum because of the way it was originally built. The ‘Cornish’ method of construction was common in social housing in the 1950s and 60s, but now you couldn’t get a mortgage on it, so this home is on the market for £170,000 to cash buyers only.
Nevertheless, it’s a decent family home with two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, a front room and a kitchen diner downstairs, and a huge back garden. It’s in Queens Road in Warmley, on the eastern edge of Bristol. More info - here.
Hartcliffe
Another former council house that is described by agents Taylors as a ‘diamond in the rough’. It’s located on Honey Garston Road in the heart of Hartcliffe, and has three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, and a huge garden out the back. Taylors has it for sale by modern method of auction, with a guide price of £170,000. More information here
Novers Hill
At the edge of Knowle West, overlooking the Western Slopes and Malago Vale is Novers Hill, that climbs up steeply from Bedminster to Knowle. On the edge there is this house, which is up for sale with Country Properties for £175,000. The location is stunning, with panoramic views round from Manor Woods Valley to the Clifton Suspension Bridge and Ashton Gate. The three bedrooms are arranged over two floors and here’s where things get a bit complicated. It’s on a big slope, with the kitchen diner and living room, and one of the bedrooms on the upper level - where the front door is - and then two bedrooms and the bathroom downstairs.
Out the back - or front, depending on where you view it from - is a retaining wall which has collapsed onto the garages below, so that will need sorting, too. More information here.
