Dacorum house prices increased more than East of England average in April - with first time buyers shelling out an average of £354,000

Prices of houses in Dacorum increased more than the average for the East of England.
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House prices increased by 0.5% – more than the average for the East of England – in Dacorum in April, new figures show.

The rise contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 5.9% over the last year.

An imbalance between supply and demand for properties has remained the primary reason behind climbing house prices across the UK throughout the pandemic.

The average Dacorum house price in April was £450,487.The average Dacorum house price in April was £450,487.
The average Dacorum house price in April was £450,487.

The need for larger deposits and constraints on accessing mortgages have pushed homeownership further out of reach for many first-time buyers. This is despite Government figures showing 50% of renters would be able to afford the monthly payments.

In a recent major speech in Blackpool, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a “comprehensive review” of the mortgage market would take place in a bid to help more people onto the property ladder.

The average Dacorum house price in April was £450,487, Land Registry figures show – a 0.5% increase on March.

Over the month, the picture was similar to that across the East of England, where prices increased 0.4%, but Dacorum was lower than the 1.1% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Dacorum rose by £25,000 – putting the area 42nd among the East of England’s 45 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

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The highest annual growth in the region was in Babergh, where property prices increased on average by 19.7%, to £361,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in East Hertfordshire gained just 5.3% in value, giving an average price of £434,000.

First-time buyers in Dacorum spent an average of £354,000 on their property – £17,000 more than a year ago, and £33,000 more than in April 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £532,000 on average in April – 50.6% more than first-time buyers.

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest rise in property prices in Dacorum in April – they increased 0.6%, to £957,351 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 8.6%.

Semi-detached houses are up 0.4% monthly; up 7.6% annually; with a £520,795 average.

Terraced houses are up 0.5% monthly; up 5% annually; with a £389,980 average.

Flats are up 0.5% monthly; up 2.6% annually; with a £271,633 average.

Buyers paid 30.6% more than the average price in the East of England (£345,000) in April for a property in Dacorum. Across the East of England, property prices are high compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £281,000.

The most expensive properties in the East of England were in St Albans – £598,000 on average, and 1.3 times as much as more than in Dacorum. St Albans properties cost 2.9 times as much as homes in Great Yarmouth (£207,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in seen in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.