Derby's dearest postcode district sold for 69% more than its cheapest in 2025 — and the gap has almost nothing to do with council tax, because the whole city pays the same Band D rate. It comes down to where the detached houses are.
Analysis of 1,922 standard Land Registry sales completed across Derby's five central postcode districts in 2025 shows Chellaston and Boulton Moor (DE73) topping the city at a £279,000 median, against £165,000 in the DE1 city centre. Mickleover and Littleover (DE3) and Allestree, Darley Abbey and Mackworth (DE22) sit close behind DE73, while Alvaston and Sinfin (DE24) trail DE1 only slightly.
Derby's five districts, 2025
| District | Area | 2025 sales | Median price | Most common type | Mover SDLT | First-time buyer SDLT | EPC C-or-above |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE1 | City centre | 166 | £165,000 | Flats (45%) | £800 | £0 | 41.2% |
| DE24 | Alvaston, Sinfin | 594 | £190,000 | Semi-detached (50%) | £1,300 | £0 | 35.5% |
| DE22 | Allestree, Darley Abbey, Mackworth | 676 | £260,000 | Semi-detached (34%) | £3,000 | £0 | 33.5% |
| DE3 | Mickleover, Littleover | 279 | £275,000 | Detached (43%) | £3,750 | £0 | 46.2% |
| DE73 | Chellaston, Boulton Moor | 207 | £279,000 | Detached (48%) | £3,950 | £0 | 54.9% |
Medians are the middle sale in each district, not an average, so a handful of unusually large or small transactions does not skew the figure. Stamp duty is calculated on Homecost's stamp duty calculator using the current England residential rates.
Every district is still stamp-duty-free for first-time buyers
All five 2025 medians sit under the £300,000 first-time buyer nil-rate threshold (HMRC), so a first-time buyer pays no Stamp Duty Land Tax anywhere in Derby — the same position already true of the wider East Midlands city cluster. A home mover, who does not qualify for that relief, pays from £800 in DE1 to £3,950 in DE73 (HMRC SDLT residential rates). That is the full extent of what stamp duty explains here: the real £114,000 gap between DE1 and DE73 is a property-type story, not a tax one.
Why the suburbs cost more: it's the detached houses, not the postcode
DE3 and DE73 are genuinely detached-led markets — 43% and 48% of their 2025 sales respectively were detached houses, against just 4% in DE1, where flats and terraces make up nearly nine in ten sales. But the pattern isn't a clean "suburb versus centre" split. DE22, Derby's highest-volume suburban district by sale count, is actually semi-detached-led (34%) with detached close behind (34%) — a genuinely mixed market rather than a detached enclave — while DE24, the cheaper inner district, is also semi-led (50%). Two districts with broadly similar type mixes (DE22 and DE24) still show a £70,000 price gap, which points to location and school catchments doing real work alongside housing type, not type mix alone.
The energy-efficiency picture doesn't follow the price ladder
If you assumed Derby's priciest district was also its greenest, DE73 fits (54.9% of its domestic EPCs rate C-or-above, the city's best). But DE22 — the second-priciest district on this list — has the lowest EPC C-or-above share of all five, at 33.5%, behind even the cheaper DE24 (35.5%) and DE1 (41.2%). A newer housing estate in DE73 or parts of DE3 pulls its energy ratings up; DE22's mix of older interwar semis around Allestree and Darley Abbey does the opposite, regardless of what buyers are paying to live there. Energy performance and purchase price are two separate measurements, drawn from Energy Performance Certificates covering 28,418 domestic properties across the five districts (GOV.UK EPC register) — one doesn't predict the other.
One council, one council tax bill — so the gap is nearly all mortgage cost
Derby is a single unitary authority, so every one of these districts pays the same 2026-27 Band D council tax: £2,306.00 a year, or £192.17 a month (Derby City Council). That means almost the entire difference in monthly cost between DE1 and DE73 comes from the size of the mortgage, not the council tax line.
| District | Median price | Loan at 90% LTV | Mortgage (5-yr fix, 25-yr term) | Council tax | All-in monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE1 | £165,000 | £148,500 | £810 | £192 | ~£1,000 |
| DE24 | £190,000 | £171,000 | £933 | £192 | ~£1,125 |
| DE22 | £260,000 | £234,000 | £1,277 | £192 | ~£1,470 |
| DE3 | £275,000 | £247,500 | £1,351 | £192 | ~£1,540 |
| DE73 | £279,000 | £251,100 | £1,370 | £192 | ~£1,560 |
Mortgage figures use the Bank of England's quoted five-year fixed rate at 75% loan-to-value (4.32%, unchanged since April 2026) applied to a 90% loan-to-value, 25-year repayment term — a reference point for comparison, not a quote for any individual buyer. Actual rates depend on deposit, credit profile and lender criteria, and this excludes buildings insurance, maintenance and any service charge.
One geographic footnote: DE73 isn't a Derby-only postcode district — it also reaches into South Derbyshire and North West Leicestershire. The figures above cover only the addresses that sit inside Derby City Council's boundary, so a search of "DE73" more broadly, including Melbourne and the surrounding villages, would pull in a different council tax rate and a different price mix.
For a citywide view, see Homecost's guide to the average house price in Derby, and for how Derby compares with its regional neighbours, see Nottingham, Derby and Leicester: buy and run costs in 2026. Type a Derby postcode such as DE22 1JU into Homecost's True Cost tool for a property-level breakdown of price history, EPC rating and council tax band. Browse more city and postcode comparisons in Regional Prices.
This analysis is based on 1,922 Land Registry price-paid transactions and 28,418 Energy Performance Certificates covering Derby's DE1, DE22, DE24, DE3 and DE73 postcode districts, retrieved on 26 October 2026, alongside Derby City Council's 2026-27 council tax charges.
Speak to a qualified mortgage adviser before acting on any of the cost estimates above.