Homes in Bury's IP32 and IP33 sold for a £275,000 median over the past year, under the £297,000 district average. Prices by type, and why the villages cost more.

Two numbers get quoted for house prices here, and they say different things. The official West Suffolk average is £297,000. The typical home actually sold in Bury St Edmunds itself went for £275,000. Neither is wrong: the district is much bigger than the town, and the villages around it are dearer than the town is. This page gives both figures, says exactly where each comes from, and breaks the town’s year of sales down by property type and by postcode area.

The district figure

The average home across West Suffolk sold for £297,000 in May 2026, up 2.3% on the £291,000 recorded a year earlier. That is the provisional figure from the UK House Price Index, which is built from completed HM Land Registry sales rather than asking prices, and adjusted for the mix of homes sold.

For context, the East of England average was £338,000 and the UK average £271,000 in the same month. West Suffolk therefore sits about £41,000 below its own region and about £26,000 above the UK, which is roughly where a rural East Anglian district with one mid-sized town would be expected to sit.

The town figure

Narrow the lens to Bury St Edmunds and the number comes down. Of the 625 residential sales in the IP32 and IP33 postcodes that HM Land Registry had registered for the year to 31 July 2026 when we checked on 9 August, the median price paid was £275,000 and the mean was £315,679.

Those two outcodes are the town and nothing else: IP33 is the centre, south and west, IP32 the north and east including Moreton Hall. They are also the only two outcodes in this district that do not spill over a boundary, which is why they can carry a town figure at all.

The gap between £275,000 and £297,000 is not a contradiction. The district average is mix-adjusted across the whole of West Suffolk, and it is dragged up by the villages. The town median is a plain middle-of-the-sales number for two postcodes. Different method, different geography, both true.

Bury St Edmunds prices by property type

Land Registry records every completed sale with its property type, so the town’s year splits cleanly.

Price paid in Bury St Edmunds (IP32 and IP33), sales registered 1 August 2025 to 31 July 2026
Property typeSalesShareMedianMean
Detached14222.7%£418,500£464,469
Semi-detached15224.3%£280,000£309,001
Terraced22235.5%£251,750£275,564
Flats and maisonettes9615.4%£173,500£177,989
Other132.1%£301,000£470,362
All types625100%£275,000£315,679

The terrace is the biggest slice of the Bury market at 36%, and its £251,750 median is the real entry price for a house rather than a flat in this town. Add semis and three in every five homes sold last year were terraced or semi-detached, which is a plainer market than the Georgian frontages on Angel Hill suggest.

The flat market is the outlier: a £173,500 median, around £100,000 below the town’s all-types figure, and the only route into ownership on a Suffolk salary without help. The detached market at £418,500 is a different world again, and it is mostly bought by people already on the ladder.

The villages cost more than the towns

This is the fact that surprises people who move here expecting rural Suffolk to be cheaper.

Median sold price by postcode area across West Suffolk, year to 31 July 2026 Nine postcode areas ranked by median price paid. IP29, the villages west of Bury including Risby and Horringer, is highest at 415,000 pounds from 103 sales. IP30 Rougham and the villages east is 360,000 from 168 sales. IP31 Ixworth and Great Barton is 345,000 from 225 sales. CB8 Newmarket and Exning is 315,000 from 416 sales. IP33 central Bury St Edmunds is 277,500 from 369 sales. CB9 Haverhill is 275,000 from 331 sales, and IP28 Mildenhall is also 275,000 from 357 sales. IP32 north and east Bury is 270,000 from 256 sales. IP27 Brandon and Hockwold is lowest at 230,000 from 208 sales. The villages are dearer than the towns Median price paid by postcode area, sales registered 1 Aug 2025 to 31 Jul 2026. Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid. IP29 Risby, Horringer £415,000 IP30 Rougham, east £360,000 IP31 Ixworth, Gt Barton £345,000 CB8 Newmarket, Exning £315,000 IP33 Bury centre £277,500 CB9 Haverhill £275,000 IP28 Mildenhall £275,000 IP32 Bury north, east £270,000 IP27 Brandon £230,000 Only IP32 and IP33 sit wholly inside West Suffolk. Every other outcode here is shared with a neighbouring district, so these are postcode areas, not council areas. Check the address on any individual sale.

IP29, covering Risby, Horringer and the villages immediately west and south-west of Bury, has a median of £415,000 across 103 sales, £140,000 above the town. IP30 (Rougham and east) is £360,000 and IP31 (Ixworth, Great Barton and north) is £345,000. All three are thin markets by volume and heavily weighted to detached houses: in IP29, half of everything sold was detached, at a £495,000 median.

At the other end, IP27 around Brandon and Hockwold is the cheapest thing in this part of Suffolk at a £230,000 median, and Haverhill (CB9) and Mildenhall (IP28) both land on £275,000, the same as Bury.

Newmarket is the one town that breaks the pattern, at £315,000 across 416 sales, the busiest market of the nine. Its detached median of £535,000 is the highest of any outcode here, which is what a racing town with a lot of large houses looks like in the data.

One important caveat: only IP32 and IP33 lie wholly within West Suffolk. IP28 is shared with East Cambridgeshire, IP29 and IP30 with Babergh and Mid Suffolk, IP31 with Mid Suffolk, CB8 with East and South Cambridgeshire, CB9 with Braintree and IP27 with Breckland and West Norfolk. Treat the figures above as postcode areas, not as council areas.

Who is buying, and at what

The UK House Price Index splits the district’s buyers, and the numbers are close to each other, which is itself a sign of a market moving in one piece rather than pulling apart:

  • First-time buyers paid an average of £247,000 in May 2026, up 2.3% on the year.
  • Home movers paid £353,000, also up 2.3%.
  • Mortgage buyers averaged £295,000 and cash buyers £303,000, both up 2.4%.

By property type across the district: detached £454,000, semi-detached £283,000, terraced £231,000, flats £147,000. Semis were up 3.1% over the year; flats were the one category to fall, down 1.2%.

That flat number is the divergence worth watching. Across the whole district, flats are the only thing getting cheaper, and in the town they are already the cheapest way in by a distance. If you are buying a first home in Bury, that is the corner of the market where time is currently on your side.

What it means for you

If you are selling in the town, a 2.3% year is a normal one, not a hot one. Homes are holding value and rising a little with inflation, which means realistic pricing sells and optimistic pricing sits.

If you are buying, the important decision here is town or village, and it costs real money: the £140,000 gap between Bury and IP29 buys a lot of commuting. Weigh it against the journey to London, which already involves a change and about 1h48 from the town, and gets longer from the villages.

Either way, check the council tax band and, if the home is new or near an allocated site, what is coming next door. Our planning page covers the district’s housing pipeline, which is about to grow substantially.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average house price in Bury St Edmunds?

The median sold price in the town’s IP32 and IP33 postcodes was £275,000 across 625 sales registered in the year to 31 July 2026. The wider West Suffolk district average was £297,000 in May 2026 on the UK House Price Index.

Are house prices in West Suffolk going up?

Yes, modestly. The district average rose 2.3% in the year to May 2026, from £291,000 to £297,000. Semi-detached homes rose 3.1%; flats fell 1.2%.

How much is a terraced house in Bury St Edmunds?

The median terraced sale in the town was £251,750 over the past year, from 222 sales. Terraces are the largest single slice of the local market at 36% of everything sold.

Is Bury St Edmunds expensive compared with the rest of Suffolk?

Within its own district it is mid-priced, and cheaper than the villages around it. IP29 to the west has a £415,000 median against the town’s £275,000. Newmarket is dearer at £315,000; Brandon and Haverhill are cheaper or level.

Where can I check what a specific house sold for?

Every completed sale in England and Wales is public. Look up a street or an address for free on HM Land Registry Price Paid, or browse the same data on Rightmove and Zoopla.

Why do Rightmove and the Land Registry give different averages?

They measure different things. Land Registry figures are completed sales; portal averages are often asking prices or a different geography, frequently a town postcode weighted towards larger homes. Always check which area and which mix a figure covers before comparing it with anything.

Sources

Land Registry data is added to as sales are registered, so figures for the most recent months rise as more transactions come in. Medians are of registered sales, not of every home in an area.