Council tax bands in Test Valley

59,140 homesSouth EastHampshire

Test Valley has the joint third-smallest share of two-bedroom homes (22.2%) of the 64 councils in the South East. Among the eleven councils in Hampshire, it has the smallest share of homes built from 1945 to 1964 (11.5%).

Three bedrooms is the usual size

Three-bedroom homes (44.4%) are the most common size, then two-bedroom and four-bedroom (20.0%). Band climbs with size: the middle home is in band B with one bedroom, band C with two, band D with three, band E with four and band G with five. Homes here average 2.93 bedrooms, more than the 2.66 for England. One-bedroom homes make up 8.3%. A detached house here has 3.8 bedrooms on average, a flat 1.6.

The 1960s and 1970s built the most

The biggest building periods here were from 1965 to 1982 (25.6%), from 1983 to 1999 (19.7%) and from 2000 to 2015 (13.3%). Homes from before 1919 make up 10.9%, 9.0 points below the share for England. Some 6,620 homes were built from 2016 to 2026. The middle home built from 2016 to 2026 is in band D, the same as the middle home built before 2016. Bands A and B take 21.6% of these newer homes and 22.3% of the older ones. By build period, the middle home sits in band C for homes built from 1965 to 1982, band D for homes built from 1983 to 1999 and band D for those built from 2000 to 2015. Over the year to March 2026 the list grew by a net 330 homes (+0.56%). The busiest single year was 2021, with 1,040 homes recorded as built.

The homes cluster in the middle bands

The homes in Test Valley gather in the middle of the ladder: bands C to E hold 61.0%, with band C the largest single band (26.5%). The middle home on the list is in band D. The share in bands A and B, 22.3%, is 20.8 points below the figure for England as a whole. Across the South East it is 25.3%. Ranked by number of homes, the bands run C, D, B, E, F, G, A and H. Band H, the top band, holds 560 homes. Within the South East, the band mix closest to this one is that of Arun.

Detached houses are the largest group

The largest group of homes in Test Valley is detached houses at 29.4%, followed in turn by terraced houses (23.5%), semi-detached houses (20.9%), flats and maisonettes (14.3%) and bungalows (10.0%). The widest gap to the rest of the South East is in flats and maisonettes: 9.3 points below the share there (23.6%). The typical home of each type sits in band E for detached houses, band D for bungalows, band C for semi-detached houses, band C for terraced houses and band B for flats and maisonettes. The nearest property-type mix elsewhere belongs to Cotswold, followed by Ashford and West Northamptonshire. The list also counts 480 caravans, houseboats and mobile homes.

Councils with a similar band mix

By band-mix distance (0 means identical), the councils closest to Test Valley are Warwick (7.5), Bromsgrove (11.5) and East Devon (11.5); the furthest within the South East is Southampton (86.0).

Compare side by side

Placed in the South East

On the share of homes in band F or above, Test Valley comes 28th of the 64 councils in the South East, just behind Ashford and just ahead of Spelthorne. All South East councils.