Latest house price data shows that St Albans property market remains flat

House prices in St Albans crept up by 0.7 per cent in July, contributing to a rise of just 0.5 per cent year-on-year.

The latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows that the average property in the area sold for £519,193 - significantly higher than the UK average of £231,422.

Hertfordshire-wide, prices increased by 1 per cent in July - a 1.4 per cent rise over the last 12 months - and the average property sold for £403,949.

Across the East of England, property prices have risen by 2.4 per cent in the last year to £294,603, compared to a 3.1 per cent increase UK-wide.

St Albans is the 18th-most expensive local authority in the UK in which to buy a home, and the average homeowner will have seen their property jump in value by around £157,000 in the last five years.

Lawrence Bowles, associate director of the research team at estate agents Savills, said the slowing national house price growth reflected a “stricter lending environment”.

“People are also waiting until we have got a clear idea on what Brexit means, before they make a big financial decision like buying a house,” he explained.

Mr Bowles said the uncertainty was affecting the capital the most, as it was the most international city in the UK.

He continued: “We are also starting to see a reverse ripple effect, which originally only hit London but now house prices in the South East and East of England are slowing as well.

“As house prices in London rose out of reach of many buyers, they looked out to the South East and East where they could get more house for their money.

“Now, house price affordability in those regions has also become stretched.”

Mr Bowles said this had caused some buyers to stop commuting to London, and look further afield.

Between May last year and April this year, the most recent 12 months for which sales volume data is available, 2,027 homes were sold in St Albans, 9 per cent fewer than in the previous year.