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Chelmsford market report CM
The CM (Chelmsford) house price history in full, 1995 to 2026, in cash and in today's money. This page is built from the public record and nothing else: 391,889 completed sales registered with HM Land Registry in the CM postcode area (Chelmsford) since 1995, plus current ONS rental figures. There are no valuations, estimates or asking prices in it.
Sales data to July 2026. Rents: ONS, May 2026. Regenerated with every monthly data refresh.
In short: 3,689 registered 2026 sales put the the CM postcode area (Chelmsford) median at £400,000, up 3% on five years earlier, with a mean of £445,500, and by floor area homes here have averaged about £4,650 per square metre over the last five years. Everything rests on 391,889 completed HM Land Registry sales since 1995, refreshed monthly; valuations and asking prices play no part.
CM is the postcode area centred on Chelmsford, taking in 25 districts. Figures this wide smooth over big local differences, so use the district reports below for anywhere specific.
Where CM sits
Shaded by median price on the same scale as the average prices map. Click any shape to open it on the live map with every sale plotted at its address, or zoom in past street level to see the sold homes right here.
What buyers actually paid in CM
Across 3,689 registered 2026 sales, the typical (median) CM home went for £400,000. The mean is £445,500, modestly above it, the usual shape of a market with an expensive tail.
Price per square metre in CM
Measured by floor area, the last five years of CM sales average about £4,650 per square metre. Price per square metre is the fair way to compare a one-bed flat with a four-bed house, and it comes from the Energy Performance Certificate on each sold home.
Set against the £285,000 England and Wales median, CM sits 40% above the national market.
A typical CM home, priced year by year (1995 to 2026)
The median as recorded at the time, and each year restated in today's money (ONS CPIH), the sharper test of whether homes really got dearer. Hover for the year-by-year figures; click a legend entry to isolate a series.
See this chart as a table
| Year | Median (cash) | Median (today's £) | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | £400,000 | £400,000 | 3,689 |
| 2025 | £415,000 | £424,924 | 11,123 |
| 2024 | £400,000 | £425,282 | 10,100 |
| 2023 | £396,000 | £435,107 | 9,188 |
| 2022 | £405,000 | £474,909 | 12,582 |
| 2021 | £387,500 | £490,625 | 14,856 |
| 2020 | £375,000 | £486,570 | 10,109 |
| 2019 | £350,000 | £458,766 | 10,914 |
| 2018 | £350,000 | £466,557 | 11,226 |
| 2017 | £340,000 | £463,726 | 11,299 |
| 2016 | £315,100 | £440,828 | 12,198 |
| 2015 | £285,000 | £402,705 | 12,778 |
| 2014 | £250,000 | £354,669 | 12,596 |
| 2013 | £238,200 | £342,746 | 10,694 |
| 2012 | £232,000 | £341,475 | 8,959 |
| 2011 | £228,000 | £344,192 | 8,926 |
| 2010 | £230,000 | £360,699 | 9,222 |
| 2009 | £208,000 | £334,362 | 8,557 |
| 2008 | £220,000 | £360,626 | 7,962 |
| 2007 | £223,000 | £378,270 | 15,931 |
| 2006 | £206,400 | £358,284 | 16,802 |
| 2005 | £195,000 | £347,021 | 13,230 |
| 2004 | £187,500 | £340,537 | 15,394 |
| 2003 | £171,000 | £315,023 | 15,038 |
| 2002 | £148,000 | £278,461 | 16,564 |
| 2001 | £122,500 | £235,500 | 16,105 |
| 2000 | £107,000 | £209,988 | 14,670 |
| 1999 | £89,600 | £178,568 | 17,122 |
| 1998 | £81,000 | £163,504 | 14,235 |
| 1997 | £74,400 | £152,579 | 15,644 |
| 1996 | £69,000 | £145,518 | 13,393 |
| 1995 | £66,000 | £143,474 | 10,783 |
In cash terms the typical CM home went from £66,000 in 1995 to £400,000 in 2026, roughly 6 times the price. Adjusted for inflation it still comes to a real rise of roughly 179%, so homes here got dearer in substance, not only in cash. Measured in today's money the market peaked in 2021; the current median sits about 18% below that. Someone who bought at the 2021 peak has not yet seen that price back in real terms.
Year-on-year change in the CM median
Each bar is the change on the year before, in cash. The zero line is the boundary between rising and falling.
The strongest year on record here is 2002 (+20.8% on the year before); the weakest, 2009 (−5.5%). Single-year swings like these are why the annualised table below matters more than any one year's headline.
Detached, semi, terraced, flat: four markets in one
A single median hides the split beneath it. Sales of detached houses dominate the record here, 30% of the typed total. A detached home currently trades at £580,000 against £224,000 for a flat, 2.6 times the price.
Median by property type, CM
One line per type, years with too few sales omitted. Hover for the year's figures; click a legend entry to isolate a type.
| Type | Median (2026) | Sales that year | All-time sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | £580,000 | 1,074 | 116,912 |
| Semi-detached | £420,000 | 1,047 | 104,927 |
| Terraced | £347,500 | 950 | 99,590 |
| Flats | £224,000 | 618 | 70,460 |
The long view: annualised growth
| Period | Cash, per year | Real terms, per year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 years (since 2025) | −3.6% | −5.9% |
| 5 years (since 2021) | +0.6% | −4.0% |
| 10 years (since 2016) | +2.4% | −1.0% |
| 20 years (since 2006) | +3.4% | +0.6% |
The table annualises median growth over each period, with the real column deflated by ONS CPIH. Smoothing hides the cycle (see the chart above for it), and none of this forecasts: it is the record.
The turnover behind the prices
How many homes change hands
Each bar is a year's recorded sales. 2008's dip is the financial crisis, and the newest bar always grows for a while as late registrations arrive.
The monthly pulse, last five years
Registrations by month. The repeating sawtooth is seasonality, and the right-hand edge always dips because the register lags completions.
Over the last twelve months of data, 8,204 sales completed in CM. Like most of England and Wales, turnover never fully recovered from 2008: the market here averaged 15,467 sales a year before the financial crisis and 9,336 a year over the last five. Volume matters as much as price: when few homes change hands, the median gets jumpy and a single street can move the figure. The most recent year is always still filling in, because sales appear in the Land Registry weeks or months after completion.
The rental side of CM
CM falls under Brentwood, the local authority covering most of the CM area (parts fall under Harlow and Chelmsford, where rents differ), where the ONS puts the average private rent at £1,613 a month (May 2026 figures). Size sets most of the rent: one-beds average £1,102 a month here against £2,402 for four or more bedrooms.
Average monthly rent by size, Brentwood
ONS Price Index of Private Rents, May 2026.
Against the £400,000 median purchase price, a rent of £1,613 a month (£19,356 a year) works out at a 4.8% gross yield, a ceiling figure that ignores letting costs, voids, maintenance and tax. Because rents are local-authority statistics, districts sharing the authority share the figure.
Common questions on CM (Chelmsford)
Are property prices falling in CM (Chelmsford)?
Is CM (Chelmsford) a good place to buy a house?
How much did a house sell for in CM (Chelmsford)?
Will CM prices rise from here?
No honest page predicts prices, so this one sticks to the record: the median is up 3% over five years in cash but down 18% after inflation. Anyone weighing a purchase should read the volume chart with the price chart, remembering that these are completed sales, registered weeks after the deals were actually struck.
On the market in CM today
Everything above is what homes in CM sold for. The live side of the market holds 3,188 homes at the moment, listed by 13 agents publishing to HomesIndex, at a typical asking price 5% above the CM median sold price.
Of everything listed here, 28% asks less than the sold record of comparable homes. The comparison behind each listing uses recent recorded sales of similar homes close by.
"Under comparable sales" means the asking price sits below what similar homes nearby actually fetched. Treat it as the start of a conversation, never a valuation, and always view the home.
See every CM home for sale on the map →
Live asking prices from estate agents who publish a feed to HomesIndex, refreshed every Monday and Thursday: a sample of the market, not every home for sale. Asking prices are not sale prices.
Bedroom by bedroom: CM prices by size
What homes of each size actually sold for across the CM area, from the Land Registry record. Size steps are fiercely local. A third bedroom adds a quarter to the price in some areas and close to four fifths in others, which is why no national rule of thumb survives contact with a real market.
| Type | 1 bed | 2 bed | 3 bed | 4 bed | 5 bed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | — | £417,500 | £550,000 (+32%) | £785,000 (+43%) | £1,137,500 (+45%) |
| Semi-detached | £325,000 | £370,000 (+14%) | £447,500 (+21%) | £575,000 (+28%) | £780,000 (+36%) |
| Terraced | £292,000 | £335,000 (+15%) | £380,000 (+13%) | £492,500 (+30%) | £700,000 (+42%) |
| Flat | £202,000 | £280,000 (+39%) | £385,000 (+38%) | — | — |
Medians of recorded sales over the last four years, by built form and bedroom count. Sold homes carry no advertised bedroom count, so sizes are estimated from their EPC records; a small number of homes will sit one size out. Sizes with too few homes to be meaningful are left blank.
The risers and the fallers
The spread across the CM area is the point: the same five years treated these districts very differently.
Five-year change in the median, CM area districts
Cash-terms risers and fallers across the area; click any row for that district's full report.
District by district
The area medians above hide a lot. Here is every CM district with enough sales to measure, dearest first; each links to its own full report.
| District | Median (2026) | 5-year | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| CM4 Blackmore, Fryerning | £808,200 | +26% | 46 |
| CM13 Brentwood, East Horndon | £530,000 | +12% | 125 |
| CM16 Epping, Theydon Bois | £527,500 | -8% | 106 |
| CM15 Brentwood, Doddinghurst | £510,000 | -1% | 139 |
| CM5 Chipping Ongar, High Ongar | £500,000 | +4% | 48 |
| CM12 Billericay (West), Little Burstead | £459,500 | -5% | 148 |
| CM11 Billericay (East), Great Burstead | £455,000 | -1% | 96 |
| CM21 Sawbridgeworth | £450,000 | +13% | 57 |
| CM22 Bishop's Stortford, Sheering | £445,000 | -8% | 57 |
| CM6 Great Dunmow, Felsted | £432,500 | +1% | 173 |
| CM23 Bishop's Stortford, Thorley | £422,000 | +0% | 239 |
| CM24 Stansted Mountfitchet, Stansted Airport | £420,000 | +1% | 51 |
| CM3 Hatfield Peverel, South Woodham Ferrers | £415,000 | +0% | 310 |
| CM14 Brentwood, Warley | £411,200 | +3% | 132 |
| CM77 Braintree, Great Notley | £402,500 | +6% | 86 |
| CM17 Harlow, Old Harlow | £400,000 | +3% | 173 |
| CM1 Chelmsford, Writtle | £398,000 | +8% | 331 |
| CM9 Maldon, Tollesbury | £375,000 | +9% | 167 |
| CM2 Chelmsford | £370,000 | +4% | 342 |
| CM19 Harlow, Roydon | £354,500 | +18% | 64 |
| CM0 Burnham-on-Crouch, Southminster | £350,000 | +0% | 100 |
| CM18 Harlow | £325,000 | +16% | 116 |
| CM20 Harlow, Gilston | £325,000 | +10% | 88 |
| CM7 Braintree, Finchingfield | £320,000 | +7% | 278 |
| CM8 Witham | £315,000 | +5% | 217 |
Thinking of selling in CM? Get a rough value first
Ground the asking price in real sold prices first. The average prices map gives a rough value in a minute: start at CM's shading and zoom to the sold homes on the street itself. Agents work from this same Land Registry record when they value; this page puts it in front of you before they arrive.
Local estate agents: one agent per district gets the featured spot on this report, free for founding agents. Claim CM.
Keep digging
The AI answers from the same Land Registry data this report is built on, already scoped to CM. Free after a one click sign in.
Two maps carry on from here: every CM sale at its exact address, and the average prices map from area shading down to single homes. The report tool answers a specific question in writing, and each sale's mortgage and rent calculator prices a real purchase.
About the numbers: everything is computed from HM Land Registry Price Paid Data (Crown copyright, OGL v3.0), geocoded to the address; today's-money figures use the ONS CPIH index, and rents are the ONS Price Index of Private Rents by local authority. These are medians of recorded sales, not valuations, and none of it is financial advice.