Dereham vs Fakenham: prices, schools and the road to Norwich

Side by side

House prices

Fakenham is dearer type for type, but not by much. HM Land Registry medians for the year to June 2026 put a terraced house at £185,000 in Dereham and £205,000 in Fakenham, a semi at £235,000 and £240,000, and a detached house at £326,000 and £332,000.

Dereham has more new houses. Its 26 new-build sales in the year, mostly on estates off Fenman Road, Greenfields Road and Spruce Way, had a median of £385,000. Fakenham has had relatively little new building. Its older houses are along Norwich Road and around the Market Place, many of them Georgian and Victorian, and most family housing is on the 20th-century estates to the south and east.

The bigger gap is between Fakenham and the coast. The median sale in Wells-next-the-Sea over the same year was £415,000, £157,500 more than in Fakenham. See our Wells guide for what the extra money buys.

Council tax widens the gap. Each town has the highest Band D in its district, and Fakenham’s, at £2,685.72, is £162.48 a year more than Dereham’s £2,523.24. Fakenham Town Council takes £318.90 of the Band D bill; in Dereham the town council precept and a street-lighting charge add £211.59.

Schools

Dereham has two secondary schools, and both teach to 18. Northgate High School was rated Good in every area, sixth form included, in May 2023; it also runs Dereham Sixth Form College on Crown Road. At Dereham Neatherd High School’s inspection in May 2025, Ofsted judged the quality of education Requires Improvement and behaviour, personal development and leadership Good. Primary schooling is split into infant and junior schools across the town, including the Dereham Church of England schools, the Toftwood schools, Grove House Infant and King’s Park Infant.

Fakenham has one school at each stage. Fakenham Infant and Nursery School and Fakenham Junior School were both rated Good in 2023. Fakenham Academy, with 723 pupils aged 11 to 18, kept its Good rating at an inspection in October 2024. Outside the town, Alderman Peel High School in Wells is the other state secondary, and Gresham’s in Holt, about 15 minutes east, is the nearest independent school.

Dereham has more choice. Fakenham’s secondary has the better recent report.

Getting around with no station

Dereham can carry a daily Norwich commute. The drive is around 30 minutes on the A47, and Central Connect’s route 8 runs every half hour. The first bus leaves St Nicholas Street at 06:00 and reaches Norwich bus station at 06:33; the 07:45 is timetabled at 55 minutes; the last back from Norwich leaves at 23:40. National Highways is dualling the A47 between North Tuddenham and Easton, due to finish by March 2027, so expect overnight closures until then. King’s Lynn is 40 to 45 minutes west. The Mid-Norfolk Railway runs heritage trains from Dereham to Wymondham, but no commuter service.

Fakenham suits people who work locally or from home. The A1067 to Norwich is single carriageway most of the way, and the X29 bus takes about 80 minutes to Castle Meadow; the first leaves at 06:20 and the last back is at 22:54. The nearest station is Sheringham on the Bittern Line, 19 miles east. For London, King’s Lynn is about 35 minutes west for trains to King’s Cross, and Lynx buses 48, 49 and 49A run there roughly hourly. The Lynx 36 Coastliner reaches Wells in about 25 minutes.

The two towns are 20 to 25 minutes apart on the B1146, and Sanders and Central Connect run buses between them.

Shops, markets and the doctor

Dereham has five supermarkets: Tesco and Lidl on Kingston Road, Aldi on Napier Way, Morrisons on Station Road and Roys on Yaxham Road. The market runs on Tuesdays and Fridays in the Market Place and Church Street, and the town has had one since at least 1388. The Orion Cinema has three screens in the Corn Exchange, and Dereham Leisure Centre has a swimming pool and gym. The two GP practices are Orchard Surgery and Theatre Royal Surgery; Toftwood Medical Centre closed on 31 March 2025.

Fakenham has Tesco on Oak Street, Morrisons on Holt Road, Aldi and Lidl. The Thursday market fills the Market Place from 9am to 3pm with plants, bread, cheese, fish, clothes and books. The Central Cinema on the Market Place is independent. There is one GP practice, the Fakenham Medical Practice on Trinity Road. The town has had no public pool for years; North Norfolk District Council is building a 25-metre pool at the sports centre, due to finish in December 2026. Fakenham Racecourse, just south of the town, holds National Hunt meetings and is one of Norfolk’s two racecourses, with Great Yarmouth.

Verdict

Buy in Dereham if you drive to Norwich most days, want the most house for the money, or want a pool, a cinema and five supermarkets in town now. Check the Neatherd report if your children will go there. Our Dereham guide has the full detail.

Buy in Fakenham if you work locally or from home and want the north Norfolk coast within 15 minutes for £157,500 less than Wells. Do not buy there for a five-day Norwich commute. Our Fakenham guide covers the town in full.

Plan the move

Dates to watch

1. December 2026: North Norfolk District Council expects to finish Fakenham’s new 25-metre pool.
2. March 2027: the A47 dualling between North Tuddenham and Easton, on Dereham’s road to Norwich, is due to be finished by the end of the 2026-27 financial year.

How we produced this guide

Sale prices are medians of standard sales in HM Land Registry Price Paid Data for 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, counting addresses in each post town (and, for the comparison, Wells-next-the-Sea) with no separate village named. Population is from the 2021 Census. School details are from Ofsted reports and the Department for Education’s register. Council tax is from Breckland Council’s and North Norfolk District Council’s 2026-27 charges. Bus times are from the timetables on bustimes.org, checked in September 2026. The A47 details are from National Highways and the pool details from North Norfolk District Council. Drive times are typical times on the main roads. We update this guide quarterly. See our methodology page for source links.

Frequently asked questions

Neither town has a station. What are the actual rail options?

From Dereham the nearest main-line stations are Wymondham and Norwich; the Mid-Norfolk Railway in the town runs heritage trains only. From Fakenham the nearest is Sheringham, 19 miles away, and King’s Lynn, about 35 minutes by car, has trains to King’s Cross.

Is Dereham or Fakenham better for commuting to Norwich?

Dereham. The drive is about 30 minutes on the A47 against 40 on the A1067, and the bus takes 33 to 55 minutes against about 80 from Fakenham.

Which is better for the coast?

Fakenham. Wells-next-the-Sea is about 15 minutes north by car and 25 minutes on the Coastliner bus. From Dereham the coast is about 40 minutes away.

How do the schools compare?

Dereham has two secondaries to 18: Northgate High, rated Good in 2023, and Dereham Neatherd High, where the quality of education was judged Requires Improvement in May 2025. Fakenham has one, Fakenham Academy, which kept its Good rating in October 2024 and has a sixth form.

How big is the price difference really?

Small. The median sale in the year to June 2026 was £240,000 in Dereham and £257,500 in Fakenham. The bigger gap is to the coast: Wells-next-the-Sea’s median was £415,000.