House prices drop in St Albans – but annual growth remains stable

House prices in St Albans dropped by 0.8 per cent in March – though the annual increase was a respectable 2.7 per cent.

Despite the small dip, the latest UK House Price Index shows that the average St Albans property sold for £533,891 in March – significantly higher than the national average of £224,144.

Nick Doyle from Aitchisons, St Albans, says that this slight fall in prices reflects what he’s seen happening locally in recent months.

“The spring market hasn’t quite seen the spark which traditionally ignites the market,” he says. “Normally it is very buoyant but it hasn’t quite happened this year.”

St Albans remains the 15th-most expensive UK local authority in which to buy a home, and the average homeowner will have seen their property jump in value by around £179,000 in the last five years.

But between February 2017 and January this year, the most recent 12 months for which sales volume data is available, 2,062 homes were sold in St Albans, 14 per cent fewer than in the previous year.

Nick adds that things are unlikely to pick up over the next six to eight weeks as we enter the notoriously quieter summer holiday period, but this isn’t going to stop motivated buyers and sellers from making their move.

“At the end of the day people are still having to buy and sell houses. Buyers are being very circumspect – but if they do see a property correctly priced they are pouncing.”