The average Oxford sale price was £471,667 in July, down £11,212 on a year earlier. Flats fell 5.2%, and South Oxfordshire is now dearer for a second month.

The average Oxford sale price fell to £471,667 in July, £11,212 lower than a year earlier. That is a drop of 2.3%, against a 1.1% rise across England.

The figures come from the UK House Price Index, which HM Land Registry published for July on 16 September. One thing to hold on to before any of the numbers below mean anything: the index average is a mean, not a median. A handful of very large sales in a small city pulls it about, and Oxford is a small city.

Every property type in Oxford was worth less than a year earlier, but not by similar amounts:

  • Flats: £286,895, down 5.2%.
  • Terraced: £462,227, down 1.7%.
  • Detached: £959,933, down 1.4%.
  • Semi-detached: £583,213, down 0.9%.

The flat figure is the one worth sitting with. An average Oxford flat, at £286,895, is now cheaper than an average home of any kind in England, which the same release puts at £293,479. That was not true a year ago, when the Oxford flat average was £302,770.

First-time buyers paid £404,264 on average, down from £413,835, a fall of £9,571.

Where that leaves Oxford in England

Falls are not unusual this year, but they are not the norm either. Of the 295 English local authority districts in the July release, 85 recorded an annual fall. Oxford’s 2.3% drop was steeper than all but 31 of them, with two more districts falling by exactly the same amount.

Strip out London, where the heaviest falls are concentrated, and the picture sharpens: of 262 districts in the rest of England, only 14 fell further than Oxford.

Oxford and West Oxfordshire are the county’s two outliers

Oxfordshire as a whole is still rising. The county average was £420,093 in July, up 2.4% on the year. Two of its five districts pulled the other way, and Oxford was the heavier of them.

Annual house price change, Oxfordshire districts, July 2026 Bar chart of the 12-month change in average house price to July 2026. Vale of White Horse up 5.7 per cent, Cherwell up 4.7, South Oxfordshire up 3.0, Oxfordshire county up 2.4, England up 1.1, South East up 0.2, West Oxfordshire down 1.6, Oxford down 2.3. Oxford fell hardest in Oxfordshire, and the county still rose Change in average price in the 12 months to July 2026, with the July average in brackets. 0% Vale of White Horse +5.7% (£413,773) Cherwell +4.7% (£356,935) South Oxfordshire +3.0% (£476,026) Oxfordshire +2.4% (£420,093) England +1.1% (£293,479) South East +0.2% (£380,878) West Oxfordshire −1.6% (£418,586) Oxford −2.3% (£471,667) Source: HM Land Registry UK House Price Index, July 2026 release, published 16 September 2026. Averages are means. Graphic by The Oxford Post.
Vale of White Horse and Cherwell are still rising fast. Oxford and West Oxfordshire are the two Oxfordshire districts going the other way.

South Oxfordshire is dearer than Oxford again

For a second month running, the district next door has a higher average than the city. South Oxfordshire came in at £476,026 against Oxford’s £471,667, a gap of £4,359.

That is a reversal of the usual order, and a fast one. In July 2025 Oxford was £20,576 dearer than South Oxfordshire. By last October the gap had widened to almost £33,000 in Oxford’s favour. It closed through the winter, and the two crossed over in June.

Across the whole index back to January 1995, South Oxfordshire has been the dearer of the two in only 107 months out of 379.

The sales figures are thin, and lag

UKHPI publishes sales volumes about three months behind prices, so June and July are blank. May 2026, with 80 completed sales in Oxford, is the latest month that can be counted. April was also 80, and March 86.

Comparisons with spring 2025 need a health warning rather than a percentage. Oxford recorded 215 sales in March 2025 and 50 in April 2025, either side of the stamp duty threshold change on 1 April. That is a rush and a hangover, not a market, and any “sales down by a third” line drawn through it is meaningless.

Two cautions about the numbers

They get revised, sometimes by enough to change a sentence. Last month’s release put Oxford’s June average at £466,815 and its annual change at -0.9%. This month’s file restates the same month as £467,754 and -0.7%. April moved further, from £478,630 to £481,055. Any figure here is the best current estimate, not a final one.

They bounce. As this release now restates them, Oxford’s annual changes read +4.5% in April, +2.6% in May, -0.7% in June and -2.3% in July. Two consecutive falls is a signal worth watching. It is not yet a trend, and the city average was actually up 0.8% on the month.

For context on the longer run, Oxford’s highest monthly average in the whole series was £517,061 in September 2024. July’s figure is £45,394 below it.

What it means for you

  • If you are buying a flat in Oxford, this is the softest part of the market by a distance: down 5.2% in a year, and now below the average price of a home anywhere in England. Ask what comparable flats in the same block actually sold for, not what they are listed at.
  • If you are selling a house, the type matters more than the postcode this year. Semi-detached values held up best, down 0.9%.
  • If you are a first-time buyer, the Oxford entry average is £404,264. That is £9,571 less than a year ago and still £110,785 above the England-wide average price.
  • If you are looking just outside the city, the price advantage of moving out has shrunk. South Oxfordshire is now dearer than Oxford, while Cherwell at £356,935 and Vale of White Horse at £413,773 are both climbing.
  • If you are checking a specific street, the index will not help. It is a district-wide mean. Oxford’s ward medians, from Land Registry sale records rather than the index, ran from £315,000 in Northfield Brook to £825,000 in Walton Manor in the year to June.

Ward-by-ward medians, the price ranges by neighbourhood and how Oxford compares on affordability are in our Oxford house prices guide. Planning decisions and the sites allocated for new homes are in Oxford planning news, and the council tax band for a given price bracket is in Oxford council tax bands.