Southend's average hit £328,383 in July, up £5,221 in a year, while Essex overall fell 0.3%. Flats were the only type to lose value. Every district ranked.

The average Southend home was worth £328,383 in July, £5,221 more than a year earlier, a rise of 1.6%. Across Essex as a whole, prices went the other way and fell 0.3% (HM Land Registry UK House Price Index).

One number does most of the work in that sentence, so it is worth being clear about what it is. The UK House Price Index average is a mean, not a median. It is pulled up by the expensive end of the market, and it is not what a typical Southend home sells for. It is useful for direction of travel, which is what this piece is about.

Six of Essex’s fourteen districts lost value over the year. Southend was not one of them.

Southend-on-Sea average house price, July 2025 to July 2026 Line chart. The average price fell to a low of £319,495 in October 2025, rose to a peak of £331,000 in February 2026, dipped to £325,149 in June and recovered to £328,383 in July 2026. Southend-on-Sea average house price, July 2025 to July 2026 Source: HM Land Registry UK House Price Index. Mean average, all property types £335k £330k £325k £320k Jul 25 Oct 25 Jan 26 Apr 26 Jul 26 £319,495 the low £331,000 February peak £328,383 Graphic by Southend Today

Houses up, flats down

Every type of Southend home gained value over the year except one.

Property type July 2026 Change on the year
Detached £644,057 up £13,257 (2.1%)
Semi-detached £430,009 up £12,984 (3.1%)
Terraced £334,776 up £9,401 (2.9%)
Flat or maisonette £198,797 down £1,662 (0.8%)
First-time buyer average £270,596 up £4,142 (1.6%)
Home mover average £419,008 up £7,483 (1.8%)

Flats are the story in a city with as many of them as Southend has. They are the only type falling, and they have been the laggard for months: the index for Southend flats stands at 94.2 against 98.2 for all property types, 100.6 for semis and 100.5 for terraces. A flat bought here a year ago is worth less now.

The gap at the other end is wide. A detached house in Southend costs £445,260 more than a flat, which is more than three times the flat’s price.

Where Southend sits in Essex

Southend was fifth of the fourteen Essex districts on the year, level with Braintree and behind Harlow, Rochford and Uttlesford. On the month it did better: third of fourteen, up 1.0% in July alone.

District July 2026 average Change on the year
Harlow £319,860 up 4.4%
Rochford £412,543 up 2.9%
Uttlesford £476,329 up 1.7%
Braintree £328,477 up 1.6%
Southend-on-Sea £328,383 up 1.6%
Basildon £367,233 up 0.6%
Maldon £389,529 up 0.3%
Colchester £297,824 down 0.5%
Thurrock £321,941 down 0.9%
Tendring £259,568 down 1.4%
Epping Forest £525,719 down 1.6%
Chelmsford £378,080 down 2.3%
Brentwood £514,480 down 2.4%
Castle Point £356,579 down 4.3%

That monthly placing is a sharp turnaround. On the June figures, which we set out in Southend house prices, June 2026, Southend was twelfth of fourteen on the month, with only Castle Point and Brentwood doing worse.

The Castle Point boundary is worth £21,000 less than it was

The most useful comparison for anyone house-hunting in Leigh is the one over the boundary. Castle Point, which takes in Hadleigh, Thundersley and Daws Heath, has fallen 4.3% in a year, the steepest drop in Essex.

  • A year ago, the average Castle Point home cost £49,611 more than the average Southend one.
  • Now it costs £28,196 more.

The premium for crossing that boundary has shrunk by more than £21,000 in twelve months.

Rochford moved the other way. It was £77,572 above Southend last July and is £84,160 above it now, so the gap towards Rayleigh and Hockley has widened by about £6,600.

Still below February, and the figures move after publication

July’s £328,383 is £2,617 below Southend’s February 2026 figure of £331,000, which remains the high point of the last year. The recovery is real but it has not yet made up the ground lost in the spring.

Two cautions worth carrying into any house price story:

  • The Land Registry revises. When the June figures came out, February read £330,582 and June read £325,586. Both have since been restated, February up £418 and June down £437. Any figure less than about three months old is provisional.
  • Sales volumes lag further still. The most recent month with a published count is April 2026, at 135 sales. The monthly count has not been above 200 since December.

What it means for you

  • Selling a house, particularly a semi or a terrace: the market has moved your way by about 3% over the year, and Southend is outperforming most of Essex.
  • Selling a flat: it is the one Southend property type worth less than a year ago. Price expectations formed in early 2026 will be too high.
  • Buying in Leigh and looking at Hadleigh or Thundersley: the Castle Point premium is the narrowest it has been in a year, so the sums are different from the ones people did last autumn.
  • First-time buyers: the average first purchase here is £270,596, about £58,000 below the all-property Southend average, and it rose 1.6% over the year.
  • Our Southend house prices page keeps the running figures, and council tax bands show what each band costs this year.

The council, separately, has just set out a £100 million plan for its own housing stock. We have looked at what its own capital reports say about how that is going in Southend’s £100m homes plan.

Sources