Norfolk House Prices Q1 2026: The Full Data Report by District and Postcode

Executive summary

Five things to take from Q1 2026 if you are buying, selling or lending in Norfolk:

1. The county is roughly flat, the districts are not. North Norfolk fell 3.6 percent year on year, the sharpest in the East of England outside Tendring. Breckland rose around 7 percent, alongside Uttlesford the regional growth outlier.
2. The postcode spread widened to £442,000. NR30 2 (central Great Yarmouth) is averaging £121,000. NR25 7 (Holt, Blakeney, Cley) is averaging £563,000.
3. Rents pushed up while sale prices softened. North Norfolk’s average rent reached £848 per month, up 5.7 percent annually. That compresses yield in the dearer coast and pushes BTL activity north and west.
4. First-time-buyer prices diverged. South Norfolk first-time-buyer mean rose to £259,000 from £250,000. North Norfolk fell from £244,000 to £236,000.
5. Affordability is now twice as hard on the coast as in Great Yarmouth. The price-to-earnings ratio runs 6.6 in Great Yarmouth, 10.0 in North Norfolk.

The headline figures

Across the county, the provisional January 2026 average Norwich-anchored Norfolk house price landed at £269,403 on the UK House Price Index, essentially flat year on year (0.0 percent) and down 0.1 percent month on month. On a rolling 12-month basis to February 2026, the mean sits closer to £301,000 across roughly 12,000 completed transactions, with the year-on-year trend running at about minus 1 to minus 2 percent. Rightmove’s advertised asking-price average for Norfolk is higher at £305,385, reflecting the gap between marketed prices and completed sales.

Q1 2026 at a glance

• Average price (ONS, Jan 2026): £269,403, index value 95.7.
• 12-month mean (to Feb 2026): £301,000 across 12,000 transactions.
• Year-on-year change: broadly flat nationally, minus 1 to minus 2 percent at the county level.
• Most affordable district: Great Yarmouth, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.6.
• Least affordable district: North Norfolk, ratio of 10.0.
• Cheapest postcode sector: NR30 2 (central Great Yarmouth) at £121,000.
• Most expensive postcode sector: NR25 7 (Holt and surrounding coast) at £563,000.
• Cheapest rent district: Breckland, around £765 per month.
• Most expensive rent district: Broadland, around £905 per month.

How Norfolk compares to the East of England and the UK

The county sits below both regional and national means. The East of England average price for Q1 2026 is approximately £345,000; the UK average is approximately £284,000. Norfolk’s £269,403 puts it about 22 percent below the regional benchmark and roughly 5 percent below the UK average. That positioning has barely moved in 24 months: Norfolk is structurally cheaper than its neighbours and has stayed cheap through the post-2022 rate cycle.

Q1 2026 versus the last four quarters

Looking back over a year of data clarifies what is structural and what is noise. The county average has drifted down by roughly £4,000 since Q1 2025 but the move has been within the index’s normal monthly volatility band. The real change in the chart below is North Norfolk: a steady downward trajectory of about one percentage point each quarter, with no sign of a floor yet.

Quarter	Norfolk avg	Norwich	North Norfolk	South Norfolk
Q1 2025	£273,400	£229,800	£299,800	£256,500
Q2 2025	£272,100	£228,000	£296,500	£256,200
Q3 2025	£271,000	£227,200	£293,800	£257,000
Q4 2025	£269,800	£226,000	£291,400	£258,300
Q1 2026	£269,403	£225,000	£289,000	Broadly flat

District by district

District	Avg price	YoY change	First-time buyer avg	Read
Norwich (unitary)	£225,000	Down 2.1%	Lower than Dec 2024	City-centre flats dragging the mean; family homes in NR4 and NR7 holding firm.
North Norfolk	£289,000	Down 3.6%	£236,000 (vs £244,000 prior year)	Coastal premium still real in Holt and Burnham Market, but wider district softened sharpest in the county.
South Norfolk	Broadly flat	Up about 1% (estimate)	£259,000 (vs £250,000 prior year)	Strongest first-time-buyer growth in the county; Wymondham, Hethersett, Poringland commuter belt benefiting.
King’s Lynn & West Norfolk	Mixed	Down about 1% (estimate)	£224,000 (vs £228,000 prior year)	Slight first-time-buyer softening; rural villages still the cheapest county-wide entry.
Breckland	Growth outlier	Up about 7% (regional)	Not yet published	Strongest price growth in the East of England region alongside Uttlesford (Essex). Dereham and Thetford driving the increase.
Broadland & Great Yarmouth	Data pending	N/a	N/a	ONS district reports not yet refreshed for Q1 2026 at time of publication.

Cheapest and most expensive postcodes

The postcode spread is the most telling number in the report. Moving from NR30 2 (central Great Yarmouth) to NR25 7 (Holt and the immediate north Norfolk coast) costs an additional £442,000 on the average sale. That is not a gentle price gradient; it is two different housing markets stacked inside the same county.

What this means in monthly mortgage payments

The Bank of England base rate sat at 4.25 percent through Q1 2026 after a quarter-point cut at the February meeting. Two-year fixed-rate residential deals across the major lenders ranged roughly 4.4 to 5.4 percent depending on loan-to-value. Five-year fixes were marginally cheaper. The numbers below use a representative 5.0 percent rate over a 30-year repayment term with a 15 percent deposit. They are illustrative, not advice.

The cheapest end: NR30 2, central Great Yarmouth. Sale price: £121,000. Deposit (15%): £18,150. Loan amount: £102,850. Monthly payment: £552. Stamp duty (first-time buyer): £0 (under £300,000 threshold). Required income (4.5x cap): £22,855.

The county middle: NR19, Dereham centre. Sale price: £241,000. Deposit (15%): £36,150. Loan amount: £204,850. Monthly payment: £1,099. Stamp duty (first-time buyer): £0. Required income (4.5x cap): £45,522.

The premium end: NR25 7, Holt coast. Sale price: £563,000. Deposit (15%): £84,450. Loan amount: £478,550. Monthly payment: £2,569. Stamp duty (standard, not FTB): £17,650. Required income (4.5x cap): £106,344.

The income gap is the story. The premium-end purchase requires roughly 4.7 times the household income of the cheapest-end purchase. Norfolk’s median full-time wage is approximately £32,000. A single full-time local earner can comfortably borrow toward NR30 2 and stretch into the cheaper NR19 band. Only a dual-earning household with significant deposit support can borrow into NR25 7, which is why coastal demand is sustained mainly by retirees, second-home buyers and London cash-out movers rather than local first-time buyers. See our Norfolk mortgage guide for current lender criteria and rural-property quirks.

Rents: the real story of Q1

While sale prices softened, rents kept pushing up. The North Norfolk district average rent reached £848 per month in January 2026, a 5.7 percent annual rise. Norwich and South Norfolk both show comparable year-on-year rent growth in the 5 to 7 percent band. That gap, falling sale values against rising rents, compresses yield calculations for small-portfolio landlords and pushes buy-to-let activity toward the northern postcodes where yields still work.

Affordability stretched hardest on the coast

The house-price-to-earnings ratio is the cleanest measure of affordability. Great Yarmouth sits at 6.6, the lowest in Norfolk, driven by lower local wages but also the cheapest sale stock. North Norfolk sits at 10.0, the highest, because coastal second-home demand pulls the mean upward while local wages lag. Broadland and South Norfolk land in the 8 to 9 range, reflecting the commuter premium around Norwich. The England average ratio is roughly 8.5, which puts Norfolk’s coastal districts above the national mean and Great Yarmouth comfortably below it. For a first-time buyer on a typical local wage, Great Yarmouth, King’s Lynn centre, and the Breckland market towns (Dereham, Thetford, Watton) remain the only districts where a single-income purchase is realistic.

Three buyer profiles, three different Norfolks

Headline averages flatten different lived experiences. Below are three buyer profiles using actual Q1 2026 numbers.

The single first-time buyer earning £45,000

At 4.5x income, borrowing capacity is roughly £202,500. With a £25,000 deposit, the workable target is around £227,000. That puts NR30 2 Great Yarmouth, NR2 4 Norwich Nelson ward, NR28 9 North Walsham periphery and NR19 Dereham centre all within range. Holt, Burnham Market and Cringleford are out. Wymondham stretches to the edge of affordability for terraced or semi-detached stock only.

The family of four moving from London

A typical London cash-out scenario: selling a £600,000 outer-London terrace, moving with £400,000 net cash plus retained mortgage capacity. The whole county is open. The decision pivots on schools and commute. Cringleford, Hethersett, Poringland and Wymondham are the consistent picks for primary catchments and direct Norwich access. Buying detached at £400,000 to £500,000 in those villages is realistic and leaves headroom against the average. Read our full North Norfolk coast versus Norwich suburbs comparison if the trade-off is village versus coast.

The retiree downsizer to the coast

This buyer is the structural reason coastal premiums are not compressing. Equity-rich downsizers from London, the Home Counties and inner Norwich underwrite NR25 7 (Holt and the surrounding coast), PE31 8 (Burnham Market and Brancaster) and NR23 1 (Wells-next-the-Sea). Cash purchases at £450,000 to £600,000 remove the rate-sensitive demand wedge and keep the postcode means high regardless of local wage growth. Q1 2026 did nothing to break this pattern.

Use this data when you buy or move

What to watch in Q2 2026

Three signals will tell us whether Q1 was a floor or a way-station:

1. The Bank of England’s May and June rate decisions. Markets are pricing in another cut by mid-year. A move to 4.0 percent base would broaden the lending range further and likely steady the softer districts. Hold or hike, and the cooler districts keep cooling.
2. North Norfolk first-quarter completions data when it lands in late June. If completions volume holds up despite the price drop, that is the floor. If it falls in line with prices, the district is still finding the bottom.
3. Breckland’s price growth at the next ONS release. A 7 percent annual rise is unsustainable without supply response. Either listing volume picks up in Dereham and Thetford and the rate moderates, or supply stays tight and Breckland stretches further from regional norms.

What this means if you are buying or moving to Norfolk

• If you are a first-time buyer: focus on King’s Lynn, Great Yarmouth, Dereham, and Thetford. Those are the only parts of Norfolk where entry-level stock still lands inside the £200,000 band.
• If you are moving for schools and commute: South Norfolk villages (Poringland, Hethersett, Mulbarton, Wymondham) remain the strongest value against Norwich commute time. Prices held up better than the county average.
• If you want the coast: Holt, Burnham Market and Wells are not softening. The coastal premium is structural, not cyclical.
• If you are relocating from London: you are still buying a comparable house for under a third of your exit price, even on the coast. That ratio has not meaningfully changed in 18 months.
• If you are a buy-to-let investor: yields work in NR30 2, PE30, NR2 4, NR28 9 and NR19. They do not work in NR25 7 or PE31 8 unless you are pricing for capital appreciation rather than rental income.

How we produced this report

Primary data is drawn from the HM Land Registry UK House Price Index (province: Norfolk) for the provisional January 2026 release, ONS local area housing price visualisations for Norfolk districts, and the February 2026 12-month rolling dataset compiled by Plumplot. Regional context is taken from the Chelton Brown spring 2026 regional update for East England and from the wider HM Land Registry regional aggregates. Postcode sector means are derived from registered sales in the relevant NR and PE sectors over the 12 months to February 2026. Advertised-asking averages are cross-checked against Rightmove and Zoopla county pages. Mortgage scenarios use a representative 5.0 percent rate over a 30-year repayment term and Bank of England base-rate context for Q1 2026. All figures provisional; we publish updates as Q1 detail is finalised. See our methodology page for source links and update cadence.

Frequently asked questions

Are Norfolk house prices going up or down in 2026?

Across the county, average prices are roughly flat year on year, with a mild softening of about 1 to 2 percent on the 12-month rolling mean. North Norfolk dropped sharpest at minus 3.6 percent. South Norfolk and Breckland are holding or rising slightly. It is a divergent market, not a falling one.

Which Norfolk postcode has the lowest house prices?

Central Great Yarmouth (NR30 2) is the lowest postcode sector at an average of £121,000. King’s Lynn centre (PE30 1-2) sits next at £140,000 to £160,000, followed by Norwich Nelson ward (NR2 4) in the low £180,000s. For a town rather than a postcode, Dereham and Thetford remain the most realistic entry points.

Where are the most expensive parts of Norfolk?

NR25 7 around Holt, Blakeney and Cley averages £563,000. Burnham Market (PE31 8) is the other postcode consistently above £500,000. Cringleford and Eaton (NR4 7) are the most expensive Norwich-side postcodes.

Is Norfolk a good place to buy property right now?

For owner-occupiers relocating from higher-cost regions, yes. Rental yields in the cheaper northern and western postcodes are holding up despite softer capital values, which makes buy-to-let arithmetic workable only in those specific postcodes. For coastal second-home buyers, the premium is not compressing.

How does Norfolk compare to the East of England average?

Norfolk’s average of £269,403 is roughly 22 percent below the East of England regional mean of about £345,000 and about 5 percent below the UK average of £284,000. That positioning has held steady through the post-2022 rate cycle. Norfolk is structurally cheaper than its neighbours and has stayed cheap.

What is the cheapest Norfolk village to buy a house in?

For rural villages, the cheapest entry stock is in West Norfolk’s PE postcodes (rural villages around King’s Lynn and Downham Market) and Breckland villages around Thetford and Watton. Two-bedroom terraced and semi-detached stock under £180,000 is still findable in those areas.

How long does the average Norfolk house take to sell?

The Q1 2026 average time on market across Norfolk was approximately 68 days based on Rightmove listing-to-sold data. That is up from roughly 58 days a year earlier. Market towns and city-edge stock sell faster than coastal premium properties, which can sit for 90 to 120 days.

What mortgage rates are available in Norfolk in Q1 2026?

Two-year fixed-rate residential deals across the major lenders ranged roughly 4.4 to 5.4 percent through Q1 2026 depending on loan-to-value, with Bank of England base rate at 4.25 percent after the February cut. Five-year fixes were marginally cheaper. See our Norfolk mortgage guide for current criteria, deposit ranges and rural property considerations.