Solihull was the most expensive place to buy a home in the West Midlands metropolitan county in 2025. The median sale price across the borough reached £330,000 — more than the seven-county average and well ahead of neighbouring Birmingham, according to HM Land Registry Price Paid Data. Yet Solihull also carries one of the lowest council tax bills of any borough in the same county. This guide sets out what the numbers show, where the money goes, and how the two facts sit together.
All figures below are drawn from HM Land Registry registered transactions for the 2025 calendar year (standard "Category A" residential sales of detached, semi-detached, terraced and flat properties), from the 2026-27 council tax data published by billing authorities, and from the UK House Price Index. Figures were compiled in July 2026.
The headline number
Across 2,699 standard residential sales in the Solihull local authority area in 2025, the median price was £330,000 and the mean was £384,297. The gap between the two — around £54,000 — reflects a long tail of high-value detached sales in districts such as Knowle and Dorridge that pulls the average above the midpoint. The middle half of all sales fell between roughly £230,000 (lower quartile) and £465,500 (upper quartile).
For context, the median sale price across England and Wales in 2025 was £295,000 (737,746 standard sales), so a typical Solihull home changed hands for about 12% above the national midpoint.
The raw median edged up from £325,000 in 2024 to £330,000 in 2025 (+1.5%). That movement should be read cautiously — a raw median is sensitive to the mix of properties that happen to sell in a given year. The mix-adjusted UK House Price Index tells a steadier story: the ONS index for Solihull moved from 99.6 to 100.0 between March 2025 and March 2026 (+0.4%), and the West Midlands metropolitan county index rose from 102.1 to 103.0 (+0.9%) over the same window, while the wider West Midlands region index was broadly flat (103.6 to 103.3) and the UK index barely moved (102.7 to 102.8). These are published index movements, not a forecast.
Solihull leads its county on price — but not on council tax
Ranking the seven West Midlands metropolitan boroughs by 2025 median sale price puts Solihull clearly at the top, and shows how the price ladder and the council tax ladder run in opposite directions.
| Borough | Median price 2025 | Band D 2026-27 | Band D as % of median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solihull | £330,000 | £2,197.26 | 0.67% |
| Dudley | £242,000 | £2,144.84 | 0.89% |
| Birmingham | £237,000 | £2,362.90 | 1.00% |
| Coventry | £230,000 | £2,516.72 | 1.09% |
| Walsall | £225,000 | £2,627.48 | 1.17% |
| Wolverhampton | £221,000 | £2,538.99 | 1.15% |
| Sandwell | £220,000 | £2,244.46 | 1.02% |
Sources: HM Land Registry (price); billing-authority council tax schedules, 2026-27.
Solihull is the dearest borough to buy in (£330,000, about 1.5 times Sandwell's £220,000) yet its Band D council tax of £2,197.26 is the second-lowest in the county — behind only neighbouring Dudley (£2,144.84). Measured as a share of the local median price, Solihull's council tax is the lightest of all seven at 0.67% a year, while Walsall's — on homes costing a third less — is the heaviest at 1.17%.
Why does the priciest borough charge among the least? Council tax bands in England are still based on property values as they stood on 1 April 1991, and the bands have never been revalued (gov.uk council tax bands). The bill a household pays is not a percentage of what a home is worth today; it is a flat, band-based charge that each billing authority sets to fund its own budget. Authorities with a broader tax base or lower spending pressures can set a lower Band D even where local property values are high. So a higher purchase price does not translate into a proportionally higher council tax bill — and can sit alongside a lower one. Band D is a benchmark figure; most households pay more or less depending on their property's band.
Where the money is: Solihull by district
Within the borough, prices span a wide range. The affluent southern districts around Knowle and Dorridge sit at one end; the northern estates at Chelmsley Wood and Castle Bromwich, geographically separate from the Solihull core, sit at the other.
| Postcode district | Main areas | Sales 2025 | Median price |
|---|---|---|---|
| B93 | Knowle, Dorridge | 279 | £555,000 |
| B91 | Solihull town centre, Sharmans Cross | 436 | £440,000 |
| B90 | Shirley, Dickens Heath, Monkspath | 754 | £342,500 |
| B92 | Olton, Elmdon | 499 | £310,000 |
| B36 | Castle Bromwich | 235 | £258,000 |
| B37 | Chelmsley Wood, Marston Green | 294 | £205,500 |
The gap between the dearest district (B93) and the most affordable (B37) is about 2.7 times. The busiest district was B90 — Shirley and the newer developments at Dickens Heath and Monkspath — with 754 recorded sales.
By property type
Solihull is a house-dominated market. Semi-detached homes were the single most-traded type, but detached houses command a substantial premium that shapes the borough's average.
| Property type | Sales 2025 | Median price |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | 679 | £585,000 |
| Semi-detached | 993 | £340,000 |
| Terraced | 517 | £255,000 |
| Flat | 510 | £180,000 |
A typical detached home changed hands for about 3.25 times the price of a typical flat. That detached top end — concentrated in Knowle, Dorridge and the leafier parts of central Solihull — is the main reason the borough's mean (£384,297) runs so far above its median (£330,000).
Energy efficiency: greener than its neighbour
Solihull's housing stock is comparatively modern for the West Midlands, and its Energy Performance Certificate profile reflects that. Of around 59,000 domestic EPC records on file for the borough, 34.2% are rated C or above — close to Manchester's citywide figure and well above Birmingham's 22.1%, a reminder that stock age, not geography, drives energy ratings.
| EPC band | Certificates | Share |
|---|---|---|
| A–B | 4,592 | 7.8% |
| C | 15,562 | 26.4% |
| D | 26,993 | 45.7% |
| E | 9,576 | 16.2% |
| F–G | 2,290 | 3.9% |
Newer suburban development at Dickens Heath, Monkspath and Blythe Valley lifts the borough's share of C-and-above ratings above the older-terrace cities nearby. The median floor area recorded on Solihull certificates is around 90 m². (EPC modelled running costs use dated assumptions and are best read as a direction of travel between bands, not a precise bill.)
What a Solihull purchase costs
Bringing the numbers together for a purchase at the borough median of £330,000:
- Stamp duty (SDLT): a home mover pays £6,500 (an effective rate of 1.97%) — nil on the first £125,000, 2% on the slice to £250,000, and 5% on the remainder (HMRC residential rates). A first-time buyer buying their main residence pays £1,500, because the £330,000 price sits just above the £300,000 first-time-buyer nil-rate band, so relief applies only to part of the price. A buyer of an additional dwelling would pay around £23,000 once the 5% surcharge on the whole price is added. A conveyancer confirms which rate applies.
- Mortgage: with a 25% deposit (£82,500) and a £247,500 loan over 25 years at the Bank of England's latest quoted 75% LTV five-year fixed rate of 4.32% (April 2026), monthly repayments work out at roughly £1,351. Your own rate will depend on your lender, deposit and credit profile.
- Council tax: Band D of £2,197.26 is about £183 a month.
That puts the mortgage-plus-council-tax figure at around £1,534 a month before energy, insurance and maintenance. A first-time buyer at the £330,000 median would still find the mortgage the dominant cost — council tax is well under a fifth of the monthly outlay.
This is general information, not advice. Speak to a qualified adviser before acting.
Try it for a specific postcode
Borough medians hide a lot of variation street to street. To see the mortgage, council tax, energy and stamp-duty picture for an individual Solihull postcode, look up the true cost for a postcode like B91 3DG, or run the numbers on the stamp duty calculator at the borough median.
For how Solihull fits its wider region, see our guide to the average house price in Birmingham — the metropolitan county's anchor — and, further east, the average house price in Leicester. Buyers weighing the all-in cost of a purchase at this price can read the true cost of buying a £300,000 home, and those puzzled by the council tax pattern above will find the mechanics in our piece on the cheapest and most expensive council tax areas in England. More area guides are in the Regional Prices section.