Westminster's average home lost £229,558 in a year, to £876,788, the steepest fall of all 33 London boroughs. But prices have risen for three months.
The average home in the City of Westminster sold for £876,788 in July. That is £229,558 less than a year earlier, a fall of 20.7%.
No other part of London came close. Westminster’s annual fall is the steepest of all 33 London local authority areas in the Land Registry’s UK House Price Index for July 2026. London as a whole was down 3.3%. England was up 1.1%.
That is the headline, and on its own it is misleading. The same figures show Westminster prices rising for the third month in a row, and the annual fall easing sharply from June. Both things are true at once, and the reason is the same: this borough sells very few homes, and a handful of very expensive ones move the average around.
Westminster is falling faster than anywhere else in London
The UK House Price Index covers every London borough plus the City of London. In the July figures, 21 of those 33 areas were worth less than a year earlier and 12 were worth more. Westminster leads the falls by more than three percentage points.
| Area | Average price | Annual change |
|---|---|---|
| City of Westminster | £876,788 | −20.7% |
| City of London | £710,652 | −17.4% |
| Tower Hamlets | £447,796 | −14.4% |
| Kensington and Chelsea | £1,232,640 | −14.1% |
| Camden | £815,159 | −10.1% |
| London | £550,037 | −3.3% |
| England | £293,479 | +1.1% |
| Barking and Dagenham (biggest rise) | £375,604 | +5.3% |
| Kingston upon Thames | £591,555 | +3.3% |
| Waltham Forest | £529,102 | +2.8% |
The four steepest falls in London are all central, high-value markets: Westminster, the City, Tower Hamlets and Kensington and Chelsea. The four biggest rises are all outer London: Barking and Dagenham, Kingston, Waltham Forest and Havering, which was up 2.1%.
Westminster is still the second most expensive place to buy in London. Only Kensington and Chelsea, at £1,232,640, is dearer.
Why the number is this big
Three things explain it, and none of them is a crash on your street.
The UKHPI is a mean average, not a median. It is the total value of sales divided by the number of them. One £20m house in Belgravia pulls the borough average up more than a hundred flat sales in Queen’s Park pull it down.
Westminster sells very few homes. The index has monthly sales figures up to May 2026, and they are low. The borough registered 84 sales in May. In the same month of 2024 it registered 166, and in 2025 it registered 134. Fewer sales means each expensive one counts for more.
The comparison month was a local peak. July 2025 is the month the current figure is measured against, and the Westminster average then was £1,106,346, up 7.9% on the year and the second highest reading in the whole of 2025. Measure from a peak and the fall looks worse.
By property type, flats have fallen furthest
Flats are the bulk of what changes hands in Westminster, and they have taken the largest hit.
| Type | Average price | Annual change |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £3,892,403 | −15.3% |
| Semi-detached | £2,760,923 | −13.3% |
| Terraced | £1,616,250 | −16.9% |
| Flat or maisonette | £775,956 | −21.4% |
| First-time buyer | £783,995 | −20.9% |
A first-time buyer average of £783,995 is the figure most worth sitting with. It is down 20.9% on the year, and it is still more than two and a half times the average price of a home anywhere in England.
Prices have actually been rising since April
The annual figure is the one that makes headlines. The monthly one tells a different story.
- April 2026: £847,914, the low point of the year
- May 2026: £861,415, up 1.6% on the month
- June 2026: £867,665, up 0.7%
- July 2026: £876,788, up 1.1%
That is three consecutive monthly rises, and £28,874 added since April, a gain of 3.4%. The annual fall also eased between June and July, from 24.2% to 20.7%, because June 2025 was a stronger comparison month than July 2025.
Anyone reading only the annual number would conclude the Westminster market was still sliding in July. It was not.
The market is thin, and getting thinner
The index runs to July, but sales volumes stop at May, because a completed sale takes time to reach the register. Recent months can also be revised upwards as more registrations come in, so treat the latest ones as a floor rather than a final count.
Even allowing for that, the direction is clear. Westminster registered 522 sales in the first five months of 2026. The same five months produced 807 sales in 2024 and 965 in 2025.
The 2025 comparison is flattered by a single month: March 2025 alone recorded 363 sales, more than double any other month in the series back to January 2019. Against 2024, a more ordinary year, sales are down 35%.
May’s total of 84 is the thinnest month the borough has had in years. Since January 2019, only two months have been lower: May 2020, during the first lockdown, at 72, and July 2021, at 76.
A note on a figure we published
Our Westminster house prices page reported in August that the borough average for May 2026 was £836,331, down 22.8% on the year. The Land Registry has since revised that month up to £861,415, a difference of £25,084, and the annual fall for May now reads 20.5%.
Revisions of that size are normal in a borough this small, and they are a reason to treat any single month here with caution. We have added a note to that page and are carrying the correction here rather than quietly changing the number.
What it means for you
If you are selling. The borough average is not your asking price, and it is not a guide to your street. A mean average dragged around by a handful of multi-million-pound sales tells you almost nothing about a one-bedroom flat in Pimlico. The type figures above are closer, and the flat average of £775,956 is the most relevant number for most Westminster owners.
If you are buying. The monthly series matters more than the annual headline. Prices in this borough bottomed in April and have risen every month since. Anyone waiting for the 20.7% fall to show up in an offer is likely to be disappointed.
If you are watching council tax. House price movements do not change your band. Bands are still set on 1 April 1991 values, and the annual bill is set by the council each February. Our council tax bands page has the current charge for every band.
If you want a figure for your own postcode. The borough average is not it. The Land Registry’s Price Paid record lists every individual sale in Westminster, and our house prices page breaks it down by postcode, which is the only honest way to read a market this uneven.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average house price in Westminster?
£876,788 in July 2026, from the UK House Price Index. That is down 20.7% on the year, but up 1.1% on June and up 3.4% since April.
Why have Westminster house prices fallen so much?
Because the index is a mean average of completed sales and the borough sells very few homes: 84 in May 2026. A handful of multi-million-pound sales moves the average more than dozens of ordinary flat sales. The comparison month, July 2025, was also a local peak at £1,106,346.
Which London borough has fallen the most?
Westminster, at 20.7% over the year to July 2026. The City of London was next at 17.4%, then Tower Hamlets at 14.4% and Kensington and Chelsea at 14.1%.
How much is a flat in Westminster?
The average flat or maisonette sold for £775,956 in July 2026, down 21.4% on the year. Flats have fallen further than any other property type in the borough.
Is the UK House Price Index a median?
No. It is a mean average of completed sales registered with HM Land Registry, so expensive sales pull it upwards. Recent months are also revised as more sales are registered.
Sources
- UK House Price Index, City of Westminster, July 2026, HM Land Registry, for the £876,788 average, the 20.7% annual fall, the 1.1% monthly rise, every property type figure and the first-time buyer average.
- UK House Price Index, London, July 2026 and England, July 2026 for the comparison figures.
- The same UKHPI series for every other borough named, including City of London, Tower Hamlets, Kensington and Chelsea, Camden and Barking and Dagenham. All 33 London local authority areas were checked for the July release.
- The monthly Westminster series for April, May and June 2026, and July 2025 for the comparison month.
- Sales volumes from the same UKHPI series, month by month from January 2019 to May 2026.
- The UK House Price Index for Westminster on the ONS site presents the same data in chart form.
The UK House Price Index is a mean average of completed sales, not a median, and recent months are revised as more sales are registered. Figures here are as published on 19 September 2026.
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