Most of us first learned about the housing market, and capitalism in general, through Monopoly.
Whether you were a family that rushed through the game or one that paused it to ‘come back later’ after several agonising hours spent at the kitchen table, there’s no denying that it’s a typical British experience.
As we all know, the principle is straightforward: you spend your money to acquire properties and create a monopoly on the market. If if climbing up the ladder were as straightforward in real life.
Researchers have crunched the calculations to rebuild the Monopoly board, which was initially constructed over 90 years ago in 1935, using 2024 housing values. And, of course, the contrast is staggering.
Park Lane and Mayfair are the most costly spots on the board, with original prices of £350 and £400, respectively.
If you add one house, the rent is £175 or £200 for any unfortunate player that falls there, but if you include a hotel, the fee skyrockets to a staggering £1,500 or £2,000. It’s the closest many of us come to landlordism.
In real life, Rightmove data reveals that the average Park Lane house cost £12,000,000 last year, up 167% from the 2019 record of £4,500,000.
Elsewhere, the typical Mayfair house now costs £5,587,014.
According to recent data by 1337Games, the average asking price for residences on Park Lane in 2024 is now £7,750,00, surpassing Mayfair, which now has an average asking price of £5,459,353.
Bond Street is the third most expensive street on the Monopoly board, originally priced at £320. Currently, houses cost an average of £5,143,612. Imagine if the Monopoly game had enough pound notes for that.
Then there’s Oxford Street, which in the original game costs £300. In 2024, the average asking price for a property in this central London area is £2,633,630. Perhaps all those American sweet stores are driving up costs.
The top 10 most expensive Monopoly streets: 1935 vs 2024
- Mayfair: £400 original cost vs £5,459,353 in 2024
- Park Lane: £350 vs £7,750,000
- Bond Street: £320 vs £5,143,612
- Oxford Street: £300 vs £2,633,630
- Regent Street: £300 vs £3,779,522
- Piccadilly: £280 vs £3,746,179
- Coventry Street: £260 vs £796,774
- Trafalgar Square: £240 vs £2,159,064
- Leicester Square: £180 vs £1,097,240
- Fleet Street: £220 vs £1,449,275.
At the opposite end of the scale, the cheapest street in Monopoly was usually the Old Kent Road, which, as the name implies, is one of England’s oldest highways and was formerly part of an ancient Celtic trail. The more you know.
Originally, this would only cost £60 on the board, but it is now much more expensive. In 2024, the average asking price for a home here is £600,997.
In reality, the most affordable Monopoly area to purchase a property is presently Vine Street in Westminster, where you can become a homeowner for an average of £478,486.
By 1935 standards, this would have cost £200, not far behind Fleet Street, The Strand, and Trafalgar Square.
As we all know, the UK housing market is in terrible shape right now, and these new Monopoly prices reflect that awful reality.
According to Zoopla, the average UK property price is currently £263,600, but the average annual earnings is just approximately £35,464. And in the Big Smoke, the average house price rises to £709,975.
In the 1930s, 85% of new residences sold for less than £750, which is equivalent to around £45,000 today.
So, the next time you sit down to play Monopoly, enjoy the original pricing – since getting on the property market now is a million miles apart from the 1930s.
