England's 15 greenest shire districts — ranked by the share of homes with an EPC rating of C or above — share a common trait: all of them have built new homes at a higher-than-typical rate over the past decade. An earlier ranking of those districts flagged two apparent versions of that new-build story: regeneration estates on former industrial land in South Derbyshire, and commuter-belt expansion around Home Counties market towns elsewhere. The working theory was that these might be different in price as well as purpose — regeneration new-build priced below the surrounding area, commuter new-build priced above it.
Testing that theory against Land Registry sales data finds it doesn't hold. In 14 of the 15 districts, including South Derbyshire, the average new-build home sold for more than the average of all homes in the same district between 2015 and 2024 — not less. Only one district, Test Valley in Hampshire, saw new-build homes sell for less than its area-wide average.
The premium, district by district
For each of the 15 districts, Homecost compared the average price of new-build sales against the average price of all residential sales (houses and flats, single residential transactions) in the same district, both measured over 2015–2024 to avoid the registration lag that affects the most recent year of Land Registry data.
| District | Avg. new-build price | Avg. all-sale price | Premium | New-build sales (n) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastleigh | £399,105 | £333,173 | +19.8% | 3,369 |
| Rugby | £332,042 | £279,544 | +18.8% | 4,343 |
| Harlow | £368,868 | £310,671 | +18.7% | 1,949 |
| South Derbyshire | £284,785 | £244,994 | +16.2% | 6,471 |
| Tewkesbury | £354,940 | £318,873 | +11.3% | 4,165 |
| Harborough | £365,595 | £334,122 | +9.4% | 4,789 |
| East Cambridgeshire | £362,905 | £332,372 | +9.2% | 2,165 |
| South Cambridgeshire | £477,818 | £438,770 | +8.9% | 4,869 |
| Cherwell | £386,891 | £355,400 | +8.9% | 6,361 |
| Ashford | £370,167 | £343,660 | +7.7% | 3,443 |
| Basingstoke and Deane | £383,316 | £364,578 | +5.1% | 3,848 |
| Uttlesford | £495,235 | £474,541 | +4.4% | 2,873 |
| Dartford | £348,967 | £337,695 | +3.3% | 5,045 |
| Vale of White Horse | £419,019 | £412,282 | +1.6% | 6,421 |
| Test Valley | £348,266 | £378,998 | −8.1% | 4,084 |
Fourteen of the fifteen show a positive premium, ranging from a modest 1.6% in the Vale of White Horse to nearly a fifth more in Eastleigh. Averaging the fifteen individual premiums gives 9.0% — a touch below the 12.0% new-build premium recorded across all of England and Wales over the same 2015–2024 window (from 1,023,667 new-build and 8,646,981 total residential sales, HM Land Registry). So despite being flagged for unusually high new-build activity, these districts are not, on the whole, charging an unusually steep premium for it. What stands out instead is how consistently that premium sits above zero.
South Derbyshire's regeneration new-build still costs more
South Derbyshire was the standout district in the earlier ranking: the only one of the 15 priced below the national median, and the one with by far the highest new-build share (28.9% of 2015–24 sales), built largely on former coalfield land around Swadlincote rather than as Home Counties commuter overspill. That made it the most plausible candidate for a "regeneration discount" — new estates built to replace industrial land, priced to match the area's affordable existing stock.
The data doesn't support that. South Derbyshire's average new-build sale (£284,785) sold for 16.2% more than the district's average sale of any kind (£244,994) — the fourth-widest gap of the fifteen districts, wider than several of the Home Counties commuter districts it was being contrasted against. New build in South Derbyshire is a different, pricier product from the older housing stock around it, in much the same way it is everywhere else on the list. The district's overall affordability, relative to the rest of England, comes from its cheaper existing stock pulling the district-wide average down — not from its new-build homes being cheap in absolute terms.
The exception: Test Valley
Test Valley, the Hampshire borough covering Andover and Romsey, is the only one of the 15 where new-build sold for less than the district average — £348,266 against £378,998, a gap of 8.1%. That inverts the pattern seen everywhere else on this list, and is the opposite direction from the national 12.0% new-build premium too.
One plausible explanation, not confirmed by this data alone, is that Test Valley's existing stock includes a meaningful share of higher-value homes — larger period houses and rural properties — that pull its area-wide average above what a standard new-build estate home costs. Testing that would need a property-type and location breakdown beyond what this comparison covers; for now, the finding stands as a genuine outlier worth a closer look in its own right.
What this means for the "green new-build" framing
The share-of-homes-rated-C-or-above figure that put these 15 districts on the list in the first place is a genuinely useful energy-efficiency signal — newer homes, built after Building Regulations tightened insulation and glazing standards from 2002 onward, are reliably more efficient than older stock. But "greener" and "cheaper" are not the same claim, and this data shows they don't travel together at the point of purchase, even in the one district built on the idea of affordable regeneration housing. A buyer weighing a new-build home against an older one nearby, in any of these areas, should expect to pay more for the new-build — not less — regardless of what the estate was originally built to replace.
Try it on your own street
Homecost's postcode tool shows the price, EPC rating and true cost — including today's mortgage rate, council tax band and stamp duty — for any address in South Derbyshire or the other districts covered here. For the full 15-district EPC ranking these figures extend, see England's greenest shire districts, ranked; for South Derbyshire's own regeneration story in detail, see South Derbyshire and the East Midlands new-build green belt. For how the new-build premium looks across all of England rather than just these 15 districts, see new-build vs resale house premium by area. More data-led UK property analysis is on the Homecost blog.
This is general information based on published sales and energy-performance data, not financial or property advice. Speak to a qualified adviser before making a decision based on price, mortgage or energy-efficiency figures.
Source data: 64,195 new-build and 314,250 total residential sales (2015–2024, HM Land Registry) across the 15 districts, and 1,023,667 new-build and 8,646,981 total sales across England and Wales for the national benchmark, fetched 2026-09-23.