The district average fell 0.1% to £646,781 in July, its first monthly fall since March. June's record has been revised down by £4,324, to £647,124.
The St Albans housing market stopped rising in July. Land Registry figures put the district average at £646,781, down £343 on June. It is the first monthly fall since March, and it ends a run of rises that started in the new year.
Prices are still up on the year, but by much less than they were. The annual rate is 2.3%, or £14,753 in cash, against 3.7% a month earlier.
Two caveats before that number goes anywhere. The UK House Price Index average is a mean, not a median, so a handful of very large sales pull it upward. And it is in cash, not adjusted for inflation.
June’s record was smaller than we reported
When the June figures came out we reported a record £651,448 and an annual rise of 4.3%. The Land Registry has since revised that month. June now reads £647,124, which is £4,324 lower, and its annual rate now reads 3.7% rather than 4.3%.
June is still a record. The revised figure is above the previous peak of £643,627, set in December 2024, and it remains the highest in a district series that runs back to January 1995. But the market peaked lower than the first release suggested, and July’s £646,781 is the second highest figure on record rather than a third consecutive monthly high.
Revisions of this kind are normal in this index and the earlier months moved too. Our June story has been updated with a note.
Flats are the only type falling
Split by property type, the July picture is a market that has slowed rather than turned, with one exception.
| Type | July 2025 | July 2026 | Annual change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | £1,216,509 | £1,258,766 | +3.5% |
| Semi-detached | £744,429 | £767,828 | +3.1% |
| Terraced | £558,571 | £575,819 | +3.1% |
| Flat or maisonette | £327,872 | £327,034 | -0.3% |
The flat average is now £838 lower than it was a year ago. Everything with a garden is up by roughly 3%. That gap matters locally, because flats are the part of the market a first-time buyer in St Albans can most often reach: the average detached house in the district costs almost four times the average flat.
The first-time buyer average is £474,986, up 1.8% on July 2025.
The most expensive district in Hertfordshire, by a distance
St Albans remains the highest average of any Hertfordshire district, and it is more than double the England average of £293,479.
| District | Average price | Annual change |
|---|---|---|
| St Albans | £646,781 | +2.3% |
| Three Rivers | £590,816 | +2.3% |
| Hertsmere | £548,704 | +1.3% |
| Dacorum | £459,235 | +3.0% |
| East Hertfordshire | £457,417 | +3.7% |
| Welwyn Hatfield | £448,681 | +3.0% |
| North Hertfordshire | £418,857 | +5.3% |
| Broxbourne | £411,689 | +2.5% |
| Watford | £404,299 | -0.7% |
| Stevenage | £316,210 | +1.8% |
Being the most expensive is not the same as growing fastest. On the annual change St Albans is sixth of the ten, behind North Hertfordshire at 5.3% and East Hertfordshire at 3.7%. Watford is the only district in the county where prices are lower than a year ago.
The county as a whole averages £469,474, up 2.7%. The East of England is up 0.5% and England 1.1%, so Hertfordshire is still outpacing both.
What it means for you
If you are selling, the useful signal is not the record. It is that the monthly rises have stopped, and that the index revises. A valuation drawn from the June release was built on a figure that has since come down by £4,324.
If you are buying, the flat market is the one moving in your favour, and it is the only part of the district that is cheaper than it was a year ago.
If you are a first-time buyer, the stamp duty maths is tight here. GOV.UK sets first-time buyer relief in England at “no SDLT up to £300,000” and “5% SDLT on the portion from £300,001 to £500,000”, and says that “if the price is over £500,000, you cannot claim the relief”. The St Albans first-time buyer average of £474,986 sits inside that band with about £25,000 of headroom, so a typical local purchase pays 5% on roughly £175,000, and a purchase only slightly above average loses the relief entirely. The rates are on GOV.UK.
A note on what these figures cover. UKHPI is based on completed sales registered with HM Land Registry, so it lags the market by a couple of months, and the most recent months are the ones most likely to be revised.
Our St Albans house prices page tracks the series month by month, and St Albans planning news covers what is being built in the district.
Sources
- HM Land Registry UK House Price Index, St Albans, July 2026 release, for the district average, the monthly and annual changes, the breakdown by property type, the first-time buyer average and the full monthly series used in the chart.
- HM Land Registry UK House Price Index for Hertfordshire and for each of the ten districts, July 2026 release, for the county table and the England and East of England comparisons.
- Our own St Albans house prices report for June 2026, published 21 August 2026, for the £651,448 and 4.3% figures that have since been revised.
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