Council tax bands in Southend-on-Sea

Southend-on-Sea has the eighth-smallest share of homes built since 2000 (9.1%) and the tenth-slowest net growth in homes on the list over the year to March 2026 (+0.10%) of the 318 councils in England and Wales. Among the 45 councils in the East of England, it has the largest share of homes built before 1919 (27.1%), the largest share built between 1919 and 1939 (24.7%) and the third-largest share of flats and maisonettes (38.2%).

The inter-war years built the most

The biggest building periods here were between the wars, from 1900 to 1918 (24.2%) and from 1945 to 1964 (16.2%). By build period, the middle home sits in band C for homes built between the wars, band B for homes built from 1900 to 1918 and band C for those built from 1945 to 1964. Some 3,050 homes were built from 2016 to 2026. The middle home built from 2016 to 2026 is in band C, the same as the middle home built before 2016. Bands A and B take 31.8% of these newer homes and 40.3% of the older ones. The busiest single year was 2016, with 740 homes recorded as built.

Three bedrooms is the usual size

Three-bedroom homes (35.6%) are the most common size, then two-bedroom (29.7%) and one-bedroom (20.3%). Band climbs with size: the middle home is in band A with one bedroom, band C with two, band C with three, band E with four and band E with five. Homes here average 2.48 bedrooms, fewer than the 2.66 for England. A detached house here has 3.7 bedrooms on average, a flat 1.6. Homes with four or more bedrooms make up 14.4%.

Flats and maisonettes are the largest group

The largest group of homes in Southend-on-Sea is flats and maisonettes, followed in turn by semi-detached houses (20.1%), terraced houses (19.9%), bungalows (11.3%) and detached houses (10.3%). The typical home of each type sits in band E for detached houses, band C for bungalows, band C for semi-detached houses, band C for terraced houses and band A for flats and maisonettes. The widest gap to the rest of the East of England is in detached houses: 10.4 points below the share there (20.7%). The nearest property-type mix elsewhere belongs to Worthing, followed by Hastings and Thanet.

The homes cluster in the middle bands

The homes in Southend-on-Sea gather in the middle of the ladder: bands C to E hold 53.4%, with band C the largest single band (29.7%). Ranked by number of homes, the bands run C, A, B, D, E, F, G and H. In bands A and B the share is 40.0%, close to the 43.1% for England. Across the East of England it is 34.9%. Within the East of England, the band mix closest to this one is that of North Norfolk. Band H, the top band, holds 130 homes.

Councils with a similar band mix

By band-mix distance (0 means identical), the councils closest to Southend-on-Sea are Brighton and Hove (9.7), Tendring (10.4) and Trafford (11.5); the furthest within the East of England is St Albans (93.3).

Compare side by side

Placed in the East of England

On the share of homes in band F or above, Southend-on-Sea comes 30th of the 45 councils in the East of England, just behind Castle Point and just ahead of North Norfolk. All East of England councils.