Despite falling £4,336 in November, following a fall of £1,650 in October, house prices remain 4.8 per cent (£18,778) higher than in November 2016.  Having seen the third highest rate of increase in average prices in the ten years from the end of 2007, Buckinghamshire’s rate of increase fell below the national and regional levels in the last year to rank only 21st among the 27 county council areas.

Table 1: Mean house prices, November 2017

Source: Land Registry, 2018

Semi-detached houses have seen Buckinghamshire’s strongest increase in average price over the last year, rising 5.5 per cent to £396,057, ahead of terraced houses (up 5.3 per cent), detached houses (4.6) and flats (3.8).  All property types saw a fall in average price in November, led by a 1.3 per cent fall in the price of flats.  Although year-on-year falls were only recorded in Chiltern, average prices for all property types fell month-on-month in all districts with the exception of Wycombe, where only flats saw average prices fall.

Table 2: Mean house prices & annual change by property type, November 2017

Source: Land Registry, 2018

There were 619 house sales in Buckinghamshire in September, taking the total for the last year to 8,502, the lowest for any 12 month period since the end of 2013.  Compared to the year ending November 2016, sales have fallen by 12.5 per cent, including a fall of 18.0 per cent in Aylesbury Vale.  Despite having fallen more than a third (33.4 per cent) since the peak of 12,771 reached in the year to June 2007, house sales in Buckinghamshire have been more resilient than the country and the South East as a whole, as shown in chart 1 below, but rank only 19th among the 27 county council areas.

Chart 1: House sales over time (year to September 2007 = 100)

Source: HM Land Registry, 2018

Chart 2: Mean house prices over time (November each year, 2007 = 100)

Source: HM Land Registry, 2018