Watford is the only one of Hertfordshire's ten districts where prices fell over the year, down 0.7% to £404,299 in July. Flats fell hardest, by 2.6%.
The average Watford home was worth £404,299 in July, £2,821 less than a year earlier. That makes Watford the only one of Hertfordshire’s ten districts where prices fell over the twelve months, on figures published this week.
The numbers come from the UK House Price Index, which HM Land Registry builds from completed sales. Watford’s annual change was minus 0.7%. Hertfordshire as a whole rose 2.7% and England rose 1.1%.
Every other Hertfordshire district was positive:
- North Hertfordshire, up 5.3% to £418,857
- East Hertfordshire, up 3.7% to £457,417
- Dacorum, up 3.0% to £459,235
- Welwyn Hatfield, up 3.0% to £448,681
- Broxbourne, up 2.5% to £411,689
- St Albans, up 2.3% to £646,781
- Three Rivers, up 2.3% to £590,816
- Stevenage, up 1.8% to £316,210
- Hertsmere, up 1.3% to £548,704
The month Watford is being measured against was a freak
A falling annual figure sounds worse than it is, and the reason is the month sitting on the other side of the comparison.
July 2025 was extraordinary in Watford. The index rose 5.6% in that single month, from £385,483 in June 2025 to £407,120. One month cannot really add £21,637 to the value of an average house. What it can do is set a very high bar for the same month a year later, which is exactly what has happened.
Watford actually had a strong month in July 2026. Prices rose 2.1% on June, the second biggest monthly rise in the county after Three Rivers at 2.6%. Five of Hertfordshire’s ten districts fell on the month.
The longer view nobody publishes
The index is rebased so that January 2023 reads 100. Watford now reads 97.5.
In cash terms, the average Watford home was worth £414,470 in January 2023. It is worth £404,299 now. That is £10,171 less than it was three and a half years ago.
Four of Hertfordshire’s ten districts are still below their January 2023 level: Hertsmere at 96.5, Stevenage at 97.4, Watford at 97.5 and Welwyn Hatfield at 98.8.
Flats are the problem, and they have been for years
The borough average hides a wide split by property type.
| Type | July 2026 average | Annual change | Index (Jan 2023 = 100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | £932,291 | −0.5% | 98.0 |
| Semi-detached | £534,461 | +0.9% | 100.1 |
| Terraced | £430,030 | +0.7% | 100.1 |
| Flat or maisonette | £263,145 | −2.6% | 94.2 |
Flats are the only type that has gone backwards meaningfully. The average Watford flat was £279,488 in January 2023 and is £263,145 now, a fall of £16,343, or 5.8%.
Semi-detached and terraced homes have essentially held their January 2023 value. Both read 100.1 on the index.
The first-time buyer average was £350,934 in July, down 0.8% on the year.
Two things to hold in mind before quoting any of this
The UKHPI average is a mean, not a median. It is pulled upwards by Watford’s expensive detached stock, where the average is over £930,000. A handful of large sales moves it in a way a median would resist. Our Watford house prices page carries the median alongside it.
The sample in any one month is small. Land Registry has not yet published sales volumes for June or July. The most recent figure it has published for Watford is 47 sales in May 2026, after 68 in April and 81 in March. Monthly averages built on numbers that size move around for reasons that have nothing to do with the market.
One correction follows from that. When we reported the June release on 19 August we gave Watford’s average as £396,385. Land Registry has since revised it to £396,171, a reduction of £214. The figures above use the revised series.
What it means for you
If you are selling. The annual figure is not a signal to drop your asking price. The fall is a comparison effect against an unusually high July 2025, and the most recent month in the data was a 2.1% rise. Ask your agent for completed sale prices on your own street rather than a borough mean.
If you are buying a flat. Watford flats are the one part of the local market that is genuinely cheaper than it was in early 2023, by about £16,000 on average. That is a real change in what a deposit buys.
If you are buying a house. Semis and terraces have not fallen. They are worth roughly what they were in January 2023, so there is no discount waiting in that part of the market.
If you are checking your council tax band. Bands are still set on values as at 1 April 1991, so none of this moves them. Our Watford council tax bands page sets out what each band costs in 2026/27.
The next UK House Price Index release, covering August 2026, is due in October.
Sources
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