Photo: Martin Bodman · CC BY-SA 2.0The middle sale price in Bow is £257,000
That is the middle of 45 standard sales from September 2023 to August 2026, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. Bow grades B+ for cost of living: prices, rent and council tax against what households in the area earn.
What Bow’s housing numbers say
Prices have risen more slowly than the typical town
Over ten years the median sale in Bow went up 32%; in the typical UK town it went up 42%. Since 1995–96 prices have gone up 5.4 times, from £42,625. Price trend ↓
Rents have risen more slowly than across England
The average rent in the Mid Devon council area went up 1.4% in the year to August 2026, against 4% across England. Over five years it rose 26% (England 35%). Renting ↓
Written from the data on this page: HM Land Registry sales since 1995, ONS private rents and household income, and council tax from MHCLG and the Welsh Government.
Bow grades B+ for cost of living
Each cost against what households in the Mid Devon council area earn (£51,535 a year, mean), ranked against UK towns.
Rent helps it: cheaper for local incomes than in 73% of UK towns.
Down 32% in a year, up 32% in ten
The median of every standard sale in Bow each year (September to August), against the typical UK town of 2,500+ (the middle of all their medians). Ten years: Bow +32%, typical town +42%. Five years: −3.6% against +11%. Years with fewer than 10 sales have no median, so the line breaks there.
Show as a table
| Year to August | Bow | Typical town | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | £230,500 | £277,000 | 16 |
| 2024–25 | £337,500 | £280,000 | 15 |
| 2023–24 | £243,750 | £275,000 | 14 |
| 2022–23 | £285,000 | £280,000 | 19 |
| 2021–22 | £272,000 | £265,000 | 19 |
| 2020–21 | £239,000 | £250,000 | 19 |
| 2019–20 | — | £230,000 | 8 |
| 2018–19 | £176,250 | £225,000 | 16 |
| 2017–18 | £178,000 | £219,950 | 15 |
| 2016–17 | £237,000 | £210,000 | 17 |
| 2015–16 | £175,000 | £195,000 | 20 |
| 2014–15 | £172,250 | £183,500 | 22 |
| 2013–14 | £170,000 | £173,500 | 24 |
| 2012–13 | £162,000 | £165,000 | 26 |
| 2011–12 | £187,000 | £162,500 | 12 |
| 2010–11 | £174,000 | £163,250 | 22 |
| 2009–10 | £165,500 | £163,975 | 20 |
| 2008–09 | — | £155,000 | 7 |
| 2007–08 | £174,750 | £172,625 | 24 |
| 2006–07 | £172,000 | £169,000 | 33 |
| 2005–06 | £178,725 | £159,000 | 30 |
| 2004–05 | £160,000 | £154,000 | 18 |
| 2003–04 | £143,250 | £141,250 | 40 |
| 2002–03 | £128,950 | £122,000 | 23 |
| 2001–02 | £76,250 | £94,950 | 42 |
| 2000–01 | £81,475 | £80,000 | 20 |
| 1999–00 | £71,950 | £71,000 | 41 |
| 1998–99 | £54,000 | £63,500 | 24 |
| 1997–98 | £59,950 | £59,437 | 13 |
| 1996–97 | £60,000 | £55,747 | 17 |
| 1995–96 | £42,625 | £52,000 | 24 |
The median Bow home sold for £175K in the year to August 2016, and £231K in the year to August 2026.
HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard (category A) sales of houses and flats inside the built-up area, by the year to August. These are actual sale prices, not an index: a year with more flats or new builds moves the median as well as prices do. The newest months are still being registered.
What homes sell for, by type
Medians of 45 standard sales, September 2023 to August 2026. The tick on each bar is the typical UK town of 2,500+.
Show as a table
| Type | Median | Sales | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | £355,000 | 17 | 38% |
| Semi-detached | £235,000 | 9 | 20% |
| Terraced | £210,000 | 19 | 42% |
HM Land Registry Price Paid: category A sales (one home at full market value), so repossessions, company buy-to-lets and bulk sales are left out. In the last 12 months the median was £230,500 (16 sales).
A typical Bow home costs 5 years of area income
Most lenders cap a mortgage at about 4.5 times household income. The calculator starts from the area’s mean household income; switch to your own.
An estimate, not a mortgage offer: borrowing of up to 4.5× income, a 25-year repayment mortgage at the rate shown, and Band D council tax (your band may differ). Stamp duty uses England’s rates from 1 April 2025, with first-time buyers’ relief. Other debts, fees and survey costs aren’t included.
A two-bedroom rents for about £809 a month
The average private rent in the Mid Devon council area is £878 a month (August 2026): £581 less than England’s, £367 less than South West’s.
By size a month, the tick is England
ONS Price Index of Private Rents: the mean rent of all private tenancies, new and existing (not asking rents), for the whole Mid Devon council area. It’s the smallest area the ONS publishes.
Band D is £2,580 for 2026–27; Mid Devon council’s average is the 2nd highest of Devon’s 10
Bow’s bill is the Mid Devon council’s share with the county or combined authority, police and fire shares, plus the parish or town council precept of about £29 a year. England’s average Band D is £2,392. Since 1993–94, Mid Devon’s average Band D has risen from £543: 389% in 33 years.
Average Band D 2026–27, by council
| Band value in 1991 | A year | A month |
|---|---|---|
| Band A up to £40,000 | £1,720 | £172 |
| Band B £40,001–52,000 | £2,006 | £201 |
| Band C £52,001–68,000 | £2,293 | £229 |
| Band D £68,001–88,000 | £2,580 | £258 |
| Band E £88,001–120,000 | £3,153 | £315 |
| Band F £120,001–160,000 | £3,726 | £373 |
| Band G £160,001–320,000 | £4,300 | £430 |
| Band H over £320,000 | £5,160 | £516 |
Your band comes from what your home would have sold for in April 1991, set by the Valuation Office Agency; look it up on GOV.UK. Each band pays a fixed fraction of Band D, from six ninths (A) to two (H). Living alone takes 25% off.
68% of households own their home; 23% rent privately
Census 2021, all households. Fewer households rent from a council or housing association than across Devon’s towns (9% against 14%).
Devon and England: all residents of their built-up areas (towns and cities), from the same Census 2021 output areas.
255th of 1,213 UK towns its size for what a home costs against income
Median sale price ÷ the area’s mean household income, cheapest first, for UK towns of 1,000 to 2,000 people: the towns either side of Bow, and others in Devon.
| # | Town | Median home | ÷ income | Rent | Band D | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lynemouth Northumberland | £74K | 1.6× | £695 | £2,576 | A |
| … | ||||||
| 107 | Dunkeswell Devon | £220K | 4.1× | £968 | £2,554 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 121 | Heathfield Devon | £220K | 4.2× | £961 | £2,647 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 212 | Princetown Devon | £239K | 4.8× | £846 | £2,634 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 214 | Starcross Devon | £250K | 4.8× | £961 | £2,604 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 252 | Bow Street Dyfed | £217K | 5× | £723 | £2,419 | B− |
| 253 | Great Bricett Suffolk | £290K | 5× | £1,005 | £2,272 | A |
| 254 | Hutton Cranswick East Riding of Yorkshire | £243K | 5× | £724 | £2,440 | A |
| 255 | Bow Devon | £257K | 5× | £878 | £2,580 | B+ |
| 256 | North Leverton with Habblesthorpe Nottinghamshire | £230K | 5× | £727 | £2,701 | B |
| 257 | Grampound Road Cornwall | £230K | 5× | £1,000 | £2,435 | C− |
| 258 | Llanddulas Clwyd | £220K | 5× | £796 | £2,473 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 1213 | Caldy Merseyside | £1M | 22.3× | £859 | £2,501 | D− |
Rent and Band D are for each town’s main council area. Cost letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; this order is context only.
Chagford sells for £186K more than Bow
Median sale, September 2023 to August 2026, for the built-up areas around Bow, shaded against Bow’s median. Five-year change where both years had 20+ sales.
| Town | Cost | Median | New | 5 yrs | Band D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bow | B+ | £257K | 0% | — | £2,580 |
| Copplestone | B | £265K | 0% | — | £2,635 |
| North Tawton | C+ | £278K | 36% | — | £2,794 |
| Morchard Bishop | C+ | £340K | 3% | — | £2,579 |
| Winkleigh | D | £300K | 15% | +14% | £2,564 |
| Crediton | B | £260K | 0% | +6.8% | £2,738 |
| Chulmleigh | C | £265K | 0% | — | £2,576 |
| Chagford | D | £443K | 0% | — | £2,691 |
Chagford, 8.7 miles away, has the dearest homes nearby (£442,500). New builds were 36% of sales in North Tawton.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Sale prices aren’t valuations. A median is the middle sale, so a year with more flats or new builds moves it even if no home changed in value. The ONS House Price Index adjusts for the mix; it is published by council, not for Bow’s built-up area.
- Rent is for the whole council. The ONS publishes private rents by council only, so the figure covers the whole Mid Devon council area, not just Bow.
- Income is a mean. The grade divides costs by the ONS’s mean household income for the council area (£51,535), which a few high earners pull up; the median household’s is lower.
- The newest months are thin. Land Registry registers a sale weeks or months after completion, so the year to August 2026 will gain sales as registrations catch up.
Questions about living costs in Bow
Is Bow expensive to live in?
The median home in Bow sold for £257,000 between September 2023 and August 2026, £20,000 less than the typical UK town. That is 5 times the area’s mean household income, cheaper for local incomes than in 63% of UK towns. The average private rent of £878 a month takes 20% of that income.
Are house prices falling in Bow?
The median sale was £230,500 in the year to August 2026, down 32% on the year before, after peaking at £337,500 in the year to August 2025. Over five years prices went down 4%, and over ten went up 32%.
How much is rent in Bow?
The ONS puts the average private rent in the Mid Devon council area at £878 a month in August 2026: £641 for one bedroom, £809 for two, £995 for three and £1,452 for four or more. Rents held flat over the year, against 4% across England.
How much is council tax in Bow?
Band D is £2,580 for 2026–27, against England’s average of £2,392. Band A is £1,720 and Band C £2,293. Your bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
How much do I need to earn to buy in Bow?
With a 10% deposit and borrowing of 4.5 times income, a household needs about £51,400 a year to buy the median Bow home of £257,000.
Is Bow cheaper than Exeter?
Yes: Exeter’s median sale was £295,000 over the same three years, against Bow’s £257,000, and its average rent £1,318 a month against £878.
Sources: HM Land Registry Price Paid (standard sales, September 2023 to August 2026) · HM Land Registry Price Paid, every standard sale since 1995 (years to August), by council ward and postcode district · ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026, by council) · ONS Price Index of Private Rents, monthly since January 2015 (councils, regions, England and Wales) · MHCLG and Welsh Government council tax, Band D 2026–27 (with parish precepts in England) · MHCLG Band D council tax by council, 1993–94 to 2026–27; Welsh Government council tax levels 2026–27 · ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023) · ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.