About West Norfolk
A guide to some of the Property Hotspots in West Norfolk
Sandringham House, Houghton Hall, Oxburgh Hall and Castle Acre all sit proudly within the westerly part of Norfolk, which borders Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. It’s a diverse rural landscape dominated by three main towns: King’s Lynn, Hunstanton and Downham Market.
King’s Lynn has a proud historical heritage, formerly known as Bishop’s Lynn, until 1537, and locally as Lynn in recent years, this is the largest town in West-Norfolk with a population of over 40,000. It’s an attractive town in its own right.
It was formed in the 12th century and its history can be seen in the beautiful merchants’ houses and splendid Custom House, overlooking the harbour. It has two marketplaces which are surrounded by magnificent buildings.
Property prices in King’s Lynn are as wide as the blue skies of West Norfolk itself. You can pay £45,000 for a studio flat or £6.5 million for a farm with land.
The property price average for the town is £144,101, which is a 6% increase on the previous year’s average. Last year most property sales in King’s Lynn involved terraced properties which sold for on average of £124,889. Semi-detached properties sold for an average price of £153,213, while detached properties commanded an average of £214,309. Terraced and detached houses are showing the greatest capital growth and 501 properties are listed on Rightmove with over half sold or under offer, which is broadly in line with the Norfolk average.
It’s not difficult to work out why. Lynn is an attractive town, with good road and rail networks to other parts of East Anglia and beyond.
Downham Market, though nowhere near as large, is another sizeable town in West Norfolk with a fenland location and a population of around 10,000. It sits 39 miles from Norwich, just 30 from Cambridge and King’s Lynn is a short 11 mile drive away along good A roads. It’s not without historical significance either – after the Battle of Naseby, King Charles I hid himself in the town. Today, it is a thriving agricultural town and, as its name perhaps indicates, hosts a popular market on Fridays and Saturdays.
Property in Downham, to give it its local name, is relatively affordable, given its good commuting links to major towns, the local train station links straight to King’s Cross, London in around 90 minutes. According to Rightmove, Downham Market is slightly more expensive than King’s Lynn: “Most of the sales in Downham Market over the past year were detached properties which on average sold for £218,725. Semi-detached properties had an average sold price of £166,718 and terraced properties averaged at £146,437.”
The final part of our guide looks at the seaside town of Hunstanton, which some may argue is North-Norfolk, some may say west, but for the sake of not arguing, we’ve pitched it as West Norfolk and also, to hedge our bets, touched upon it in our North Norfolk Area Guide, where you’ll find even more information!
Hunstanton, or “Hunston” as it is known locally, is one of the few places in Norfolk where you can see a spectacular sunset across the Wash, as it faces west. It has unique cliffs too, which are striped, and was purpose built in Victorian times, so it’s much more modern than other Norfolk coastal towns like Cromer and Great Yarmouth.
Local landowner, Henry Styleman Le Strange, created Hunstanton in 1846 and he did a great job, we think, as it is a delightful place to both visit and live. Its beach is expansive, especially when the tide goes out, leaving rock pools, shallow waters and those sunsets to admire.
Old Hunstanton, its close neighbour, has an average detached property price of £100,000 more at £377,000. In the past year alone, house prices have seen near 10% capital growth. Less expected perhaps is that only 30% of stock is sold in Hunstanton – if you’re reading this and are one of the 70% who are unsold or are curious about the market value of your property in Hunstanton, contact Ross or Laura for a free no obligation valuation.
West Norfolk is an area we at The Norfolk Agents know well, and we are currently selling some lovely properties in Sporle, Ingoldisthorpe and South Wootton and Mileham.
If you’d like any more information about West Norfolk, the area, or our market leading fees, the value of your home in whatever part of Norfolk you live in, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.