BB2 vs BB3: house prices per square metre compared
BB2 (Mellor) has a median of £2,020 per m² against £1,760 in BB3 (Lower Darwen). BB2 is the more expensive of the two: BB3 is 12.9% cheaper per m². The figures come from 543 and 393 matched sales in the last 12 months of HM Land Registry data.
£168,350, the median sale price in BB2, buys about 83 m² there and about 96 m² in BB3, a difference of 13 m² at each district’s own median. Over the 10 years to Q1 2026, BB3 moved +5.7% a year against BB2 at +4.7% a year, before inflation.
Sales in the last 12 months.
| Measure | BB2High confidence Mellor, Blackburn £2,020median per m² | BB3High confidence Lower Darwen, Darwen £1,760median per m² | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median price per m² | £2,020 | £1,760 | −12.9% |
| Median sale price | £168,350 | £157,000 | −6.7% |
| Middle 60% of salesp20 to p80 | £1,330–£2,690 | £1,290–£2,420 | |
| Sales (last 12 months) | 581 | 445 | −136 |
| With a matched floor areaThe denominator behind each median per unit area | 543 | 393 | −150 |
| Mean floor area (matched sales) | 96 m² | 92 m² | −3.5% |
| Annual change over 9.8 years | +4.7% a year | +5.7% a year | +1.0 pts |
| New-build premium | +39.3% | n/a | n/a |
| By property typeMedian price per m² for each property type sold in the last 12 months. | |||
| Detached | £2,660n = 112 | £2,590n = 54 | −2.6% |
| Semi-detached | £2,350n = 159 | £2,440n = 70 | +3.8% |
| Terraced | £1,430n = 245 | £1,500n = 262 | +4.9% |
| Difference: BB2 minus BB3. | |||
| All BB2 sold prices | All BB3 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 BB2 and BB3 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 BB2 and BB3 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 BB2 and BB3 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