AL5 vs CM3: house prices per square metre compared
AL5 (Bower Heath) has a median of £7,060 per m² against £4,540 in CM3 (South Woodham Ferrers). AL5 is the more expensive of the two: CM3 is 35.7% cheaper per m². The figures come from 322 and 249 matched sales in the last 12 months of HM Land Registry data.
£795,000, the median sale price in AL5, buys about 113 m² there and about 175 m² in CM3, a difference of 62 m² at each district’s own median. Over the 10 years to Q1 2026, CM3 moved +3.6% a year against AL5 at +2.1% a year, before inflation.
Sales in the last 12 months.
| Measure | AL5High confidence Bower Heath, Harpenden £7,060median per m² | CM3Medium confidence South Woodham Ferrers, Chelmsford £4,540median per m² | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median price per m² | £7,060 | £4,540 | −35.7% |
| Median sale price | £795,000 | £435,000 | −45.3% |
| Middle 60% of salesp20 to p80 | £5,860–£8,350 | £3,750–£5,290 | |
| Sales (last 12 months) | 349 | 650 | +301 |
| With a matched floor areaThe denominator behind each median per unit area | 322 | 249 | −73 |
| Mean floor area (matched sales) | 134 m² | 126 m² | −5.9% |
| Annual change over 9.8 years | +2.1% a year | +3.6% a year | +1.5 pts |
| By property typeMedian price per m² for each property type sold in the last 12 months. | |||
| Detached | £7,860n = 110 | £4,610n = 155 | −41.3% |
| Semi-detached | £7,120n = 97 | £4,320n = 55 | −39.3% |
| Terraced | £6,970n = 57 | no sales | n/a |
| Flat | £5,380n = 58 | no sales | n/a |
| Difference: AL5 minus CM3. | |||
| All AL5 sold prices | All CM3 sold prices |
Each trend line is that district’s own quarterly median price per square metre, scaled to its own range: compare directions, not heights. Gaps are quarters with too few matched sales to publish a median.
Frequently asked questions
Why compare AL5 and CM3 on price per square metre rather than price?
A raw sale price mostly reflects how big homes are; price per square metre corrects for size, so AL5 and CM3 can be compared on what a buyer actually gets for the money. Both figures here are medians of sold price divided by EPC floor area, from HM Land Registry sales, computed the same way for both areas.
Why do AL5 and CM3 show different numbers of sales?
The two districts are different sizes and trade at different rates, and each figure is computed over the matched sales its own area produced in its stated window. The matched-sale count is printed beside each median because it is that median's own denominator.
Compare other areas
Or browse the league tables for the most expensive and best value districts, every comparison page, or the free dataset behind these figures.
Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 · Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 · Floor areas from the Energy Performance of Buildings Register · how these figures are made