Revealed: Dacorum's property hotspots

New figures reveal the most and least expensive neighbourhoods to buy in Dacorum.

The UK property market has had a turbulent few years – with a boom in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, followed by a slowdown amid rising interest rates and inflation.

New figures from the Office for National Statistics show where properties are likely to set you back the most in Dacorum, and where you could snap up a bargain.

The Ashridge neighbourhood was Dacorum's priciest, with a median value of £1,090,500 among the 30 sales in the area last calendar year.

The next most expensive was the Aldbury and Wigginton area, where a house could set you back £760,000, and Berkhamsted East, which had a median price of £700,000 in 2022.

Meanwhile, the Hemel Hempstead Town neighbourhood saw the lowest house prices, with buyers paying an average of £300,000 across 99 sales last year.

This was followed by Highfield and Nash Mills, where buyers spent £335,500 and £340,000 respectively.

Across the country, property sales have slowed significantly in the past year.

Richard Donnell, executive director of research at the property search website Zoopla, said: "The increase in mortgage rates is having a bigger impact on the number of sales rather than house prices so far."

Sellers are having to shave off more than 5% of the original asking price to achieve a sale.

"There are big regional variations with market activity holding up better in Scotland, the North East and London while sales have increased more slowly across the south of England.

"House prices are starting to fall in higher value markets where average values are over £400,000 – in more affordable markets prices are still rising year on year, albeit at much slower rates than a year ago," he added.

There were 700,000 sales across England and Wales in the year to December 2021 – down from a recent peak of more than 1.1 million in the year to September 2021.

Overall, house prices have remained steady, with a median price of £280,000 last year – a £5,000 increase on the year before.

In Dacorum, the average house cost £432,000 in 2022 – up from £425,000 a year before.

The number of properties sold dropped, from 3,052 in 2021 to 1,955 last year.