BL1 vs BL2: house prices per square metre compared
BL1 (Heaton) has a median of £2,390 per m² against £2,610 in BL2 (Ainsworth). BL2 is the more expensive of the two: BL1 is 8.4% cheaper per m². The figures come from 556 and 459 matched sales in the last 12 months of HM Land Registry data.
£207,000, the median sale price in BL2, buys about 79 m² there and about 87 m² in BL1, a difference of 8 m² at each district’s own median. Over the 10 years to Q1 2026, BL1 moved +6.0% a year against BL2 at +6.0% a year, before inflation.
Sales in the last 12 months.
| Measure | BL1High confidence Heaton, Bolton £2,390median per m² | BL2High confidence Ainsworth, Bolton £2,610median per m² | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median price per m² | £2,390 | £2,610 | +9.2% |
| Median sale price | £195,000 | £207,000 | +6.2% |
| Middle 60% of salesp20 to p80 | £1,810–£3,140 | £2,000–£3,210 | |
| Sales (last 12 months) | 581 | 477 | −104 |
| With a matched floor areaThe denominator behind each median per unit area | 556 | 459 | −97 |
| Mean floor area (matched sales) | 92 m² | 85 m² | −7.2% |
| Annual change over 9.8 years | +6.0% a year | +6.0% a year | +0.0 pts |
| By property typeMedian price per m² for each property type sold in the last 12 months. | |||
| Detached | £3,250n = 87 | £3,250n = 68 | +0.0% |
| Semi-detached | £2,880n = 171 | £2,720n = 207 | −5.6% |
| Terraced | £2,050n = 228 | £2,120n = 165 | +3.4% |
| Flat | £1,770n = 70 | no sales | n/a |
| Difference: BL1 minus BL2. | |||
| All BL1 sold prices | All BL2 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 BL1 and BL2 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 BL1 and BL2 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 BL1 and BL2 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