Living in Costessey

Property prices

HM Land Registry recorded 223 standard sales in Costessey in the 12 months to June 2026. The median was £260,000 and the mean about £294,000.

The two postcode areas sell differently. In the NR8 5 postcodes, which cover Old Costessey and Queen’s Hills, the 35 detached houses sold had a median of £410,000, and 26 of the 29 flats sold were there too. In NR5 0, which is New Costessey, detached houses had a median of £341,750. On The Street in Old Costessey, seven sales ran from £180,000 to £765,000.

New Costessey began after the Costessey Hall estate was broken up following a sale in 1913. Norwich families built on the cheap plots, and the makeshift houses were replaced with brick between the 1930s and the 1950s, which is why so much of it dates from those decades. Queen’s Hills is the opposite: almost all of it has been built this century. No sale in these postcodes in the 12 months to June 2026 was registered as a new build, so Queen’s Hills is now mostly a resale market.

For the district, the UK House Price Index put South Norfolk at £311,587 in July 2026, up 1.5% on a year earlier. First-time buyers in South Norfolk paid £256,600 on average. The index is adjusted for the mix of homes sold, so it will not match the simple Costessey figures above.

Council tax

Costessey’s Band D bill for 2026-27 is £2,522.38, set by South Norfolk Council. Band A is £1,681.59 and Band H £5,044.76. For comparison, Cringleford pays £2,552.17 at Band D. South Norfolk handles bins and planning; Norfolk County Council runs schools and roads.

Schools

There are three state primaries, all rated Good. Costessey Primary School on Three Mile Lane (URN 138642) takes ages 3 to 11 and had 559 pupils against a capacity of 630; Ofsted rated it Good on 27 June 2023, with personal development judged Outstanding. Queen’s Hill Primary School on Kestrel Avenue (URN 135148) takes ages 4 to 11, had 606 pupils against 630 places, and was rated Good on 28 March 2023. St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School on West End in Old Costessey (ages 3 to 11) was inspected on 24 June 2025 and judged Good in every area.

The secondary is Ormiston Victory Academy on Middleton Crescent (URN 136186), which takes pupils from 11 to 18 and had 1,517 on roll. Its inspection on 5 November 2024 found the quality of education, behaviour, leadership and the sixth form all Good, and personal development Outstanding. That was its first full inspection since 2013, when it was rated Outstanding.

Easton College, part of City College Norwich since January 2020, is the next village west and takes post-16 vocational students; Sanders buses 56 and 58 run there. Some families apply further afield, for example to City of Norwich School or Thorpe St Andrew School. School preference does not guarantee a place, so check the current admission rules with Norfolk County Council.

Getting around

By car the city centre is about 10 minutes off-peak and nearer 20 at rush hour. The A47 runs along the southern edge, and the Longwater junction and Dereham Road are where the queues form. The A47 also takes you west to Dereham and King’s Lynn, and east to the A11 for Cambridge and London.

First’s Red Line buses, the 23 and 24 group, run into the city about every 20 minutes through the weekday. From Kestrel Avenue in Queen’s Hills to Castle Meadow takes about 40 minutes because the route loops through Longwater and New Costessey; from Longwater Lane in New Costessey it is about 30. The last bus back from Castle Meadow to Queen’s Hills leaves at 22:58. The Costessey Park and Ride site has its own services to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (the 510) and the UEA (the 511), and Sanders runs free S1 and S2 buses to Sainsbury’s at Longwater.

The Marriott’s Way, the 24.6-mile path on the old railway lines between Norwich and Aylsham, crosses the north of the parish. It is traffic-free, and the ride into the city centre is about 20 minutes.

For trains you go to Norwich station, which has the direct London and Cambridge services.

Broadband

We do not have a Costessey-only figure. Across South Norfolk, thinkbroadband’s September 2026 data shows 77.30% of premises can get full fibre and 97.52% superfast speeds of 30 Mbps or more. Check the exact address on Ofcom’s broadband checker before you buy.

Shops, pubs and doctors

The weekly shop is at Longwater, off the A47. The retail park sits beside an 88,000 sq ft Sainsbury’s and has The Range, Smyths, Boots, an M&S Simply Food and Pets at Home, with Next Home and Garden opposite. In New Costessey the East of England Co-op on Norwich Road has the Post Office and opens 7am to 10pm. Queen’s Hills has its own Co-op.

There are four pubs. The Bush at 55 The Street in Old Costessey has a beer garden running down to the river. The Harte and The Crown are the other older pubs, and The Copper Beech was built in 2011 by the Longwater retail park.

The GP practice is Roundwell Medical Centre, at 25 to 27 Dr Torrens Way in New Costessey. The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, which has the A&E, is about a 10-minute drive down the A47.

Parks, sport and the Showground

Costessey Town Council runs the Costessey Centre on Longwater Lane, which opened in 2010 and has rooms and a hall for hire, and the Queen’s Hills Community Centre. It also looks after the Breckland, Longwater and Gunton Lane recreation grounds and two woods, Bunkers Hill and Greenhills. The River Tud runs through the parish with paths beside it. Costessey Park Golf Course is laid out in the grounds of the old Costessey Hall, whose belfry tower still stands, and Bawburgh Golf Club is nearby. The UEA Sportspark, with its pools, gym and climbing wall, is about 10 minutes by car.

The Norfolk Showground is in the parish. The Royal Norfolk Show was held there on 24 and 25 June 2026 and draws around 80,000 visitors; the next is on 30 June and 1 July 2027. The ground hosts other events through the year, and on event days the traffic backs up on the western approaches. Houses nearest the site feel it most, so if you are buying close by, go and look on a show day.

Plan the move

How we produced this guide

Costessey sale prices are from HM Land Registry Price Paid Data: standard sales only, 12 months to June 2026, in the South Norfolk parts of the NR8 5 and NR5 0 postcode sectors, excluding addresses in Bawburgh. The district figure is the HM Land Registry UK House Price Index for South Norfolk, July 2026. Population is from the 2021 Census. School details are from Ofsted reports and the Department for Education. Council tax is from South Norfolk Council’s 2026-27 charges. Bus times are from the timetables on bustimes.org, checked 24 September 2026. Drive and cycle times are typical times. Broadband figures are from thinkbroadband. See our methodology page for source links.

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