Buying in Caterham: what to check at the viewing stage

Caterham is a town in the Tandridge district of Surrey, CR3 postcode. Roughly 17 miles south of central London, served by Thameslink to London Bridge (approximately 35 minutes) and East Croydon (approximately 15 minutes). The town divides into two distinct areas: Caterham-on-the-Hill (older residential area on the plateau) and Caterham Valley (commercial centre and station). This distinction matters for several of the six dimensions below.

This page lists the data dimensions we report on; for live figures for your specific address, run an Area Report.

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The 6-dimension summary

Dimension	Caterham (CR3)
Good/Outstanding schools nearby	Available in Area Report
Crime per 1,000 residents	Available in Area Report
Broadband average download	Available in Area Report
Council tax band	Available in Area Report
Median sold price	Available in Area Report
Flood zone share	Available in Area Report

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Schools

Caterham falls in the Tandridge district but draws on Surrey County Council admissions. State secondary provision includes de Stafford School (non-selective). Primary school catchments vary across the Hill and Valley areas — the same postcode district can have different catchment schools depending on the specific street.

Caterham School is the main local independent, with both a secondary and a prep school. Grammar school access via Surrey’s selective routes is limited from CR3 — distance and performance criteria apply.

What to check. For any specific address, which primary school serves the admissions area — not which school is nearest. Catchment maps change annually. Always check the Ofsted inspection date: the revised inspection framework from 2023 means older Outstanding or Good ratings may not reflect current performance.

For a live school count by Ofsted rating within a set radius of any Caterham postcode, an Area Report queries the schools dataset at the time of generation.

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Crime

Category	Caterham (CR3)
All crime per 1,000 residents	Available in Area Report
Residential burglary	Available in Area Report
Vehicle crime	Available in Area Report
Anti-social behaviour	Available in Area Report

Context. Caterham Valley — the lower commercial area — will carry higher crime figures than Caterham-on-the-Hill, which is largely residential owner-occupied. The Valley has retail, hospitality, and the station: categories that correlate with higher footfall-related counts. For a residential buying decision, the relevant comparison is the per-postcode rate for the specific address against Surrey and England averages.

Tandridge district is within Surrey Police’s area. Surrey generally sits below the England average on residential crime, but whether a specific CR3 postcode tracks above or below the Surrey average requires the live per-postcode query.

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Broadband

Metric	Caterham (CR3)
Average download speed	Available in Area Report
Full fibre availability	Available in Area Report
Ultrafast availability	Available in Area Report

Topography caveat. Caterham spreads across a chalk valley and plateau. Street cabinet distances vary significantly depending on location, which affects FTTC speeds. The Valley area near the station is more likely to have had full-fibre or ultrafast upgrades than some Hill-area lanes and more outlying streets.

The CR3 postcode boundary includes areas towards Woldingham which can be genuinely rural — full-fibre availability in these areas is slower to arrive. For anyone depending on home broadband for work, an Ofcom postcode check before viewing is worth doing.

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Council Tax

Caterham falls within Tandridge District Council.

Band	Annual charge
Band D	Available in Area Report
Band E	Available in Area Report
Tandridge District precept	Combined with county + police

The total annual bill combines the Tandridge district precept, Surrey County Council’s precept, and the Surrey Police precept. The combined figure for 2025/26 is published by Tandridge District Council. The Valuation Office Agency’s public lookup gives the band for any specific property.

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Property Market

Metric	Caterham (CR3)
Median sold price	Available in Area Report
Price trend	Available in Area Report
Property type mix	Available in Area Report
Transactions (12m)	Available in Area Report

Caterham’s position in the Surrey market. Caterham sits in the east Surrey corridor — same broad market area as Redhill and Oxted. It is generally priced below the Elmbridge and Guildford core markets, and below north Surrey commuter towns, but above the more peripheral east Surrey postcodes. The combination of a 35-minute London Bridge journey, North Downs access, and a more accessible price point than equivalent-commute-time towns in GU or KT postcodes gives CR3 a distinct buyer proposition.

Hill versus Valley price difference. The Hill area has more family-sized detached and semi-detached housing. The Valley has more terraced stock and flats near the station. A buyer should use the specific street as the comparator, not the CR3 outcode median.

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Flood Risk

Dimension	Caterham (CR3)
Properties in flood zone	Available in Area Report
Surface water flood risk	Available in Area Report
Caterham Bourne events	Recorded 1960, 2000/01, 2014, as recorded in Environment Agency historical flood data

The Caterham Bourne. Caterham sits in a chalk catchment, not on a major river. The Caterham Bourne is an intermittent chalk stream that flows through Caterham Valley during high-groundwater periods. It does not appear on EA flood zone maps as a permanent watercourse, but it has caused flooding in the Valley in wet years. Valley-area properties adjacent to the Bourne’s course should check historical flood event records alongside current EA zone classification.

Caterham-on-the-Hill properties are less exposed to valley-floor flooding but can be affected by surface water run-off from the chalk plateau in heavy rainfall events.

The EA’s flood map for planning should be checked at property level. River flood zones (1, 2, 3) and surface water risk categories (Low/Medium/High) are separate data layers — both need to be read together for a CR3 address.

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At the viewing stage

The Hill/Valley split makes several of these checks more location-specific than in most Surrey towns:

• Is the property on the Hill or in the Valley — and which primary school serves the admissions area for this address?
• What is the crime rate for this postcode by residential category, relative to the Surrey average?
• Is broadband at this address full fibre or FTTC — particularly for Hill-area lanes?
• What is the council tax band and combined annual charge?
• What have comparable properties on this or adjacent streets sold for in the past 12 months?
• Is this property in an EA flood zone, or close to the Caterham Bourne course?

The Bourne question is specific to Caterham and is not something a listing will typically mention.

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Further reading

• How we assess flood risk — EA flood zones, surface water data, groundwater flood risk
• How we calculate crime rates — Police.uk, LSOA normalisation, twelve-month methodology

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An Area Report for any Caterham postcode covers all six dimensions with live data — for £24.99. Researching a specific property while you’re still viewing? A Property Report scopes the checks to that address: EPC and flood risk at the building, council tax band, broadband, the nearest schools, crime, air quality and environmental context, for £29.99.

This article is general information only. It is not financial, legal, or property investment advice. Always obtain independent advice before committing to a property purchase.

Schools: Ofsted. Crime: Police.uk. Broadband: Ofcom Connected Nations. Council tax: VOA + Tandridge District Council. Property market: HMLR Price Paid Data, OGL v3.0. Flood risk: Environment Agency; Caterham Bourne event records.