As you are no doubt aware, property prices vary around the country. The money it costs to buy a three-bedroom house in one town might not get you anything close to that somewhere else.
To give you an idea of the variations, here is a comparison of what £500,000 will buy you in, or around, all the different Premiership towns and cities in England.
In each case, we have searched on a leading estate agent’s website to see what is available at that price.
We have avoided any property listed as a “development opportunity” because it is difficult to quantify what your further costs may be on top of the purchase price.
You will not find any properties right next to the home ground in question. After all, parking on match days would be a nightmare! But in each case, it is only a short drive away and also within striking distance of the appropriate training ground.
Finally, what you will find here are the largest properties possible. This will give you the best idea of what the market is like in each region.
Newcastle
Holystone is a small village in north Tyneside, north-east of Newcastle. It is close to the Rising Sun country park and only a 20-minute drive from Kingston Park. It also has good transport links into the centre of the city.
Your £500,000 will get you a spacious property with four bedrooms, large kitchen, and decent size garden.
Sale
With the AJ Bell Stadium being in Salford, and the Sale Sharks training ground south-east of Manchester in Carrington, you will be in an ideal position to easily reach both venues in the actual town of Sale itself.
As with Newcastle, your notional budget will get you a four-bedroom house, although this is semi-detached rather than detached.
Leicester
Welford Road is right in the middle of Leicester and the training ground is in Oadby to the east of town.
Loughborough is north of Leicester, but still only a short drive into town, and a 40-minute drive to the training ground. It is also on the main trainline into London.
£500,000 buys you another four-bedroom house with three bathrooms and two reception rooms. Being on a corner plot, it also boasts larger gardens than comparable properties in the area.
Coventry (Wasps)
One advantage of Wasps’ move north in 2014 is that £500,000 gets you far more for your money around Coventry than it would do in Sunbury, Shepherds Bush, or High Wycombe.
The village of Balsall Common, to the west of Coventry, is handily placed between Coventry and Birmingham and is also close to the training complex at Henley-on-Arden.
Once again, we are in four-bedroom territory with two bathrooms and a large back garden with patio.
Northampton
Just outside Northampton, and within a 25-minute drive of Franklin’s Gardens you will find this four-bedroom detached property in the village of Nether Heyford.
All the rooms are spacious, and there are good-sized gardens front and back.
Bristol
The Ashton Gate ground and the training complex at Clifton are both on the west side of Bristol so it makes sense to look in that area for suitable property within your budget.
Portbury village is equidistant between the two. There, you discover this four-bedroom detached property with a good-sized garden.
As well as being close to training and home grounds, it is also handy for Bristol city centre one way and the sea air on the coast the other.
South-west London (Harlequins and London Irish)
As you would expect, a property search on a fixed budget of £500,000 in south-west London throws up different results to almost anywhere else in the country.
For that price you will get a sizeable two-bedroom split-level apartment in Southfields, which is five miles from Twickenham and so within easy travel distance of both The Stoop and the new London Irish ground at Brentford Football Club.
North London (Saracens)
The further out of London you go, the more you will get for your money.
The Saracens’ home ground is in Barnet and their training ground is in St Albans. Close to both, and also close to the M25 and M1 is Radlett.
A three-bed apartment in the town centre comes nicely within your £500,000 limit. It is close to the station with direct trains that will take you into the centre of London in half an hour.
Bath
The popularity of Bath as a historic city and UNESCO World Heritage Site means you will always get far more property for your pounds outside the city than in the centre.
For example, the small town of Keynsham is only a 25-minute drive from the centre of Bath itself. There you can find this three-bed converted coach house for your £500,000.
It is also just a short journey to Bristol in the other direction.
Gloucester
Drive 20 minutes out of Gloucester in a north-west direction and you will come to the village of Newent. There you will find this unique, four-bed barn conversion within your price range.
It is very close to Hartpury if you want to get in some extra training with the Championship team!
Exeter
Given the location on the Devon coast, you may well be tempted to look for a property close to the sea when searching for places to live around Exeter.
You will pay a premium for sea views, however, and as the watchword of this list is value-for-money it is worth coming slightly inland.
This detached four-bed property in the market town of Newton Abbot is only a thirty-minute drive to Sandy Park.
Worcester
The final property on your list is in Pershore, which is just 10 miles south-east of Worcester. It is a short drive to Sixways, and there is also a direct train link into the centre of the town.
In Pershore there is this lovely four-bed detached property set back from the road at the end of a long driveway.
There are three reception rooms and a sunny conservatory that takes you out to the back garden recently laid with artificial turf, just like Sixways itself!
Get in touch
If you are looking to find a home at a new club or are interested in putting together a buy-to-let (BTL) portfolio, then please get in touch.
You can email us at enquiries@dbl-am.com or call us on 01625 529 499.
Please note
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or other loans secured on it.
Buy-to-let (pure) and commercial mortgages are not regulated by the FCA.
Think carefully before securing other debts against your home.