Flats in the BS3 postcode district, which covers Bedminster, Southville and Ashton in south Bristol, changed hands 272 times in 2025 at a median price of £262,443 (HM Land Registry Price Paid data, fetched 24 September 2026). Only BS8 recorded more flat sales (278). BS3's flat median sits £98,057 below BS8's £360,500 and within £2,443 of BS7's £260,000, but on more than twice as many sales as BS7.
The district-wide figure hides three separate effects. One sector carries almost half the flat sales. The newest flats arrive one scheme at a time. And energy ratings follow the age of the building far more closely than the price.
Where BS3 sits on Bristol's flat ladder
The table orders the nine Bristol postcode districts with at least 100 flat sales in 2025 by flat median. It covers standard-price (Category A) sales of flats and maisonettes, all fetched on 24 September 2026.
| Postcode district | Flat sales 2025 | Flat median | Flats as share of all sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| BS8 | 278 | £360,500 | 77.2% |
| BS6 | 264 | £345,000 | 53.1% |
| BS9 | 108 | £320,000 | 24.1% |
| BS1 | 194 | £287,750 | 95.6% |
| BS3 | 272 | £262,443 | 33.7% |
| BS7 | 119 | £260,000 | 22.9% |
| BS2 | 118 | £235,000 | 57.8% |
| BS4 | 150 | £215,000 | 21.7% |
| BS5 | 126 | £210,000 | 16.5% |
| Bristol, all districts | 1,883 | £265,000 | 30.3% |
BS3 accounts for 14.4% of all flat sales in Bristol, and its median is 1.0% below the citywide flat median of £265,000. Flats are a third of BS3 sales (33.7%); terraced houses are the larger share at 53.5%. Because the median of an even number of sales is the midpoint of the two middle prices, the BS3 figure is not a round number.
For the districts either side, see the Homecost guides to flats in BS7 (Bishopston, Horfield and Ashley Down), flats in BS6 (Cotham and Redland) and the Clifton BS8 flat market. The city-wide context is in average house prices in Bristol 2026.
Flats, terraces and semis in BS3
| Property type | Sales 2025 | Median |
|---|---|---|
| Terraced | 432 | £435,000 |
| Flat or maisonette | 272 | £262,443 |
| Semi-detached | 93 | £452,000 |
| Detached | 11 | £422,000 (too few sales to read as a district figure) |
| All four types | 808 | £397,250 |
The typical flat sold for 60% of the typical terraced house (£262,443 against £435,000). The mean price across all 808 sales was £391,587, slightly below the median, and only 2 of the 808 sales reached £1 million, so there is no high-priced tail pulling the average up.
Against 2024, the BS3 flat median moved from £260,000 (303 sales) to £262,443, up 0.9%. The terraced median rose from £425,000 to £435,000 (+2.4%), and the Bristol flat median from £255,250 to £265,000 (+3.8%). These are simple medians of recorded sales, not mix-adjusted, and 2025 sale counts can still rise as late registrations are added, so the year-on-year counts are not a like-for-like comparison. The ONS UK House Price Index, which is mix-adjusted, put the City of Bristol index at 101.2 in June 2026 against 97.8 in June 2025, a rise of 3.5% across all property types.
How the 272 flat sales spread across price bands:
| Price band | Flat sales | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under £200,000 | 38 | 14.0% |
| £200,000 to £249,999 | 70 | 25.7% |
| £250,000 to £299,999 | 90 | 33.1% |
| £300,000 to £399,999 | 51 | 18.8% |
| £400,000 and over | 23 | 8.5% |
In total, 203 of the 272 flat sales (74.6%) were at or below £300,000, including 5 at exactly £300,000. That is the ceiling of the stamp duty nil-rate band for eligible first-time buyers, covered below. Shares are rounded and sum to 100.1%. Of the 272 flat sales, 268 were leasehold.
One sector carries the flat market
BS3's five main sectors, BS3 1 to BS3 5, all recorded sales in 2025. BS3 1 alone accounts for 131 of the 272 flat sales (48.2%).
| Sector | All sales | Flat sales (share) | Flat median | House median (D, S, T) | All-type median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BS3 1 | 221 | 131 (59.3%) | £300,000 | £527,750 (90 sales) | £360,000 |
| BS3 2 | 108 | 14 (13.0%) | £233,500* | £469,323 (94) | £449,000 |
| BS3 3 | 179 | 41 (22.9%) | £245,000 | £438,000 (138) | £417,500 |
| BS3 4 | 165 | 57 (34.5%) | £247,000 | £430,465 (108) | £386,936 |
| BS3 5 | 135 | 29 (21.5%) | £242,000* | £390,000 (106) | £365,000 |
*Fewer than 30 flat sales, too few to rank.
BS3 1 has the highest flat median (£300,000) and the highest house median (£527,750) of the five sectors, yet the lowest all-type median (£360,000). The reason is mix rather than price: 59.3% of its sales are flats, against 13.0% in BS3 2, which has the highest all-type median (£449,000) on a house-heavy mix. A single district or sector median mixes property types, so comparing two areas' overall medians can point the opposite way from comparing like with like.
Postcode districts are a Royal Mail construct, not a council boundary. Of the 999 BS3 postcodes in Homecost's records, 978 are in Bristol City Council's area, one is in North Somerset and 20 have no local authority recorded. Every 2025 sale in the data falls in the Bristol area, so Bristol's council tax rate applies throughout the figures here.
New-build flats arrive one scheme at a time
BS3 recorded 49 of Bristol's 71 new-build flat sales in 2025 (69%). Forty-two were on St Johns Road in BS3 1, across two postcodes (BS3 1FR and BS3 1FS). In 2024 the district recorded 62 new-build flat sales, but on different streets: Lombard Street (26), East Street (25), Church Road (8) and St Johns Road (3). The supply of new flats in BS3 has shifted from street to street rather than spreading evenly.
New-build flats in BS3 sold at a median of £310,000 (49 sales) against £250,000 for resale flats (223 sales), a 24% gap. Including them lifts the district flat median from £250,000 to £262,443, about 5%.
| Sector | Resale flat sales | Resale flat median | New-build flat sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| BS3 1 | 87 | £285,000 | 44 |
| BS3 2 | 14 | £233,500* | 0 |
| BS3 3 | 41 | £245,000 | 0 |
| BS3 4 | 52 | £250,000 | 5 |
| BS3 5 | 29 | £242,000* | 0 |
*Fewer than 30 sales.
New-build does not explain the whole BS3 1 gap. In BS3 1, new-build flats sold at a median of £333,750 (44 sales), but resale flats alone still sold at £285,000 (87 sales), against £233,500 to £250,000 in the other four sectors. New-build sales are sometimes registered with a delay, so the 2025 new-build counts may rise as further registrations are added.
Age of the stock and energy ratings
Homecost holds an Energy Performance Certificate for 725 BS3 flat addresses (latest certificate per address, matched to Land Registry address records). Of those, 63.4% (460) are rated C or better, against 60.7% (3,878 of 6,387) for Bristol flats as a whole. Only 9 (1.2%) are rated F or G. The median floor area recorded on the certificates is 60 square metres, the same as the Bristol flat median.
| Postcode district | Flat certificates | Rated C or better | Built 2003 or later | Built before 1930 | Median floor area |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BS7 | 574 | 70.7% | 58.4% | 23.3% | 62 m² |
| BS3 | 725 | 63.4% | 42.3% | 29.2% | 60 m² |
| BS8 | 462 | 48.7% | 4.1% | 57.4% | 74 m² |
| BS6 | 568 | 37.5% | 18.8% | 68.1% | 72 m² |
| BS9 | 331 | 34.4% | 2.4% | 19.0% | 71 m² |
| Bristol, all flats | 6,387 | 60.7% | 26.7% | 24.1% | 60 m² |
The age columns leave out two groups, flats built between 1930 and 2002 and flats with no age band recorded, so they do not sum to 100%. Within BS3, the rating follows the build era: 34.0% of flats built before 1930 are rated C or better (212 certificates), 52.2% of those built 1930 to 2002 (136), and 87.0% of those built from 2003 (307). Bristol-wide the equivalent figures are 22.2%, 55.8% and 93.5%. That step is consistent with the tighter energy-efficiency standards introduced in the early 2000s.
The sectors show the same link:
| Sector | Flat certificates | Rated C or better | Built before 1930 | Built 2003 or later |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BS3 1 | 131 | 40.5% | 71.0% | 5.3% |
| BS3 2 | 199 | 84.9% | 3.5% | 70.9% |
| BS3 3 | 89 | 55.1% | 34.8% | 33.7% |
| BS3 4 | 131 | 66.4% | 42.7% | 17.6% |
| BS3 5 | 175 | 58.3% | 14.3% | 60.6% |
The sector with the highest flat sale prices, BS3 1, has the lowest share rated C or better because most of its certificated flats are pre-1930 buildings. None of the 44 new-build flats sold there in 2025 is matched to a certificate in Homecost's data, so the BS3 1 rating figure describes the older stock only. The certificates count flat addresses, not sales: BS3 2 has 199 certificated flats but only 14 flat sales in 2025. For the wider picture, see how Bristol's homes rate on energy efficiency.
What buying and running costs at these prices
Stamp Duty Land Tax (England) at the BS3 flat median of £262,443, on a single main-residence purchase, is £3,122.15 at standard rates (1.19% effective), calculated with Homecost's stamp duty calculator using HMRC's rates. An eligible first-time buyer pays £0 at that price, because HMRC's first-time buyer relief applies a nil-rate band to the first £300,000. At the new-build median of £310,000 the standard figure is £5,500 and the first-time buyer figure is £500, the 5% rate on the £10,000 above £300,000. The relief is withdrawn entirely above £500,000; 3 of the 272 BS3 flat sales were above that. Whether a purchase qualifies depends on HMRC's tests, which a conveyancer can confirm. For the rules, see first-time buyer stamp duty relief explained; for the same threshold test in another city, see the London postcode sectors where the £300,000 nil-rate reaches the median.
Bristol's Band D council tax for 2026-27 is £2,713.68, compared with a mean of £2,410.97 across the 296 English authorities in Homecost's data (£302.71, or 12.6%, higher). Band D is a benchmark, not what a flat pays: the bill depends on the band assigned to each property, based on its 1991 value in England. The statutory ratios put Band A at six-ninths of Band D (£1,809.12), Band B at seven-ninths (£2,110.64) and Band C at eight-ninths (£2,412.16). The Valuation Office Agency assigns bands; the data here does not say which band any BS3 flat is in. For a full costing at a comparable price point, see the true cost of buying a £300,000 home in 2026.
What these figures cannot show
These are medians of recorded sales and describe what was paid, not the price of any individual home. Several sector figures rest on fewer than 30 sales and are flagged in the tables. The 2025 counts may rise as late registrations arrive, the certificate figures cover only addresses matched to certificates, and nothing here is a forecast. Other Bristol comparisons are in the house-versus-flat comparison near the city centre, Bristol against Bath on buying and running costs and the wider Regional Prices archive.
This is general information, not advice. Speak to a qualified adviser before acting.
Try a BS3 postcode
Enter a BS3 postcode, for example BS3 3NL, in the Homecost postcode tool to see the True Cost of each property on the street: mortgage at the current Bank of England rate, council tax, energy costs from EPC data and stamp duty.
Based on 808 HM Land Registry transactions in BS3 (6,211 across Bristol) in 2025 and 725 latest flat EPCs in BS3, fetched 24 September 2026. More guides are on the Homecost blog.