Local market reports › WD
Watford market report WD
The WD (Watford) house price history in full, 1995 to 2026, in cash and in today's money. Everything below comes from 142,079 sales recorded by HM Land Registry in the WD postcode area (Watford) since 1995, real completion prices from real purchases, alongside the ONS's current rent figures. No valuations, no estimates, no asking prices.
Sales recorded to July 2026; rents are ONS figures for May 2026. The page rebuilds with each monthly release.
In short: the typical home in the WD postcode area (Watford) sold for £475,000 in 2026, the median of 1,148 registered sales, up 2% on five years earlier. The mean was £542,900, and by floor area homes here have averaged about £5,780 per square metre over the last five years. The figures cover 142,079 sales recorded by HM Land Registry since 1995 and refresh with each monthly release: completed sale prices, not valuations or asking prices.
WD is the postcode area centred on Watford, taking in 11 districts. Figures this wide smooth over big local differences, so use the district reports below for anywhere specific.
Where WD 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.
WD sold prices: where the market stands
In the WD property market, the 2026 median sale price is £475,000, from 1,148 registered sales; the mean, the "average house price" most sites quote, is £542,900, sitting a little above it, the familiar pattern where pricier homes stretch the average.
WD prices by floor area
Measured by floor area, the last five years of WD sales average about £5,780 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.
Against a national (England and Wales) median of £285,000, WD runs 67% above it.
A typical WD home, priced year by year (1995 to 2026)
Two lines: the median in the money of its day, and the same years restated by ONS CPIH into today's money, which is the truer test of getting dearer. Hover for exact figures; click a legend entry to isolate a series.
See this chart as a table
| Year | Median (cash) | Median (today's £) | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | £475,000 | £475,000 | 1,148 |
| 2025 | £496,000 | £507,861 | 3,215 |
| 2024 | £475,000 | £505,023 | 3,236 |
| 2023 | £470,000 | £516,415 | 2,848 |
| 2022 | £475,000 | £556,992 | 3,877 |
| 2021 | £465,000 | £588,750 | 4,613 |
| 2020 | £445,000 | £577,397 | 3,125 |
| 2019 | £410,000 | £537,412 | 3,517 |
| 2018 | £416,200 | £554,802 | 3,383 |
| 2017 | £415,000 | £566,018 | 3,637 |
| 2016 | £400,000 | £559,604 | 3,918 |
| 2015 | £355,000 | £501,615 | 4,505 |
| 2014 | £313,500 | £444,755 | 4,703 |
| 2013 | £278,000 | £400,014 | 4,267 |
| 2012 | £250,000 | £367,969 | 3,748 |
| 2011 | £250,000 | £377,404 | 3,637 |
| 2010 | £250,000 | £392,064 | 3,590 |
| 2009 | £231,800 | £372,620 | 3,220 |
| 2008 | £246,500 | £404,066 | 3,160 |
| 2007 | £249,000 | £422,373 | 6,377 |
| 2006 | £230,000 | £399,251 | 6,340 |
| 2005 | £218,500 | £388,842 | 4,877 |
| 2004 | £210,000 | £381,401 | 5,854 |
| 2003 | £190,000 | £350,026 | 5,561 |
| 2002 | £167,000 | £314,209 | 6,393 |
| 2001 | £143,000 | £274,910 | 6,210 |
| 2000 | £125,000 | £245,313 | 5,238 |
| 1999 | £111,000 | £221,217 | 6,530 |
| 1998 | £96,000 | £193,783 | 5,680 |
| 1997 | £85,000 | £174,318 | 6,036 |
| 1996 | £75,000 | £158,172 | 5,384 |
| 1995 | £72,500 | £157,604 | 4,252 |
In cash terms the typical WD home went from £72,500 in 1995 to £475,000 in 2026, roughly 7 times the price. Even after inflation that is a real rise of about 201%: homes here genuinely became dearer, not merely more expensive on paper. The real-terms peak came in 2021, and today's median remains roughly 19% under it: a 2021 buyer is still waiting to get that price back in today's money.
Year-on-year change in the WD 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 (+16.8% on the year before); the weakest, 2009 (−6.0%). 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 terraced homes dominate the record here, 29% of the typed total. A detached home currently trades at £900,000 against £285,000 for a flat, 3.2 times the price.
Median by property type, WD
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 | £900,000 | 173 | 23,554 |
| Semi-detached | £599,000 | 323 | 35,793 |
| Terraced | £441,500 | 325 | 41,592 |
| Flats | £285,000 | 327 | 41,140 |
The long view: annualised growth
| Period | Cash, per year | Real terms, per year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 years (since 2025) | −4.2% | −6.5% |
| 5 years (since 2021) | +0.4% | −4.2% |
| 10 years (since 2016) | +1.7% | −1.6% |
| 20 years (since 2006) | +3.7% | +0.9% |
Each row is compound annual growth of the median; ONS CPIH supplies the real-terms deflator. Annualising irons out the cycle, which the chart above shows in full, and past growth records what happened rather than predicting anything.
The turnover behind the prices
The year-by-year sales count
Recorded sales per year. The dip after 2008 is the financial crisis; the last bar is still filling in as recent sales get registered.
The monthly pulse, last five years
Sales as they reached the register each month. Expect the seasonal sawtooth, and discount the newest months while late entries land.
The register shows 2,445 WD sales across the most recent twelve months of data. Like most of England and Wales, turnover never fully recovered from 2008: the market here averaged 5,856 sales a year before the financial crisis and 2,865 a year over the last five. Price without volume misleads: a median built on few sales jumps around, and one street can tilt it. Keep in mind too that the latest year is still filling in, since sales reach the register weeks or months after completion.
Rents around WD
For renting purposes WD sits in Watford, the local authority covering most of the WD area (parts fall under Three Rivers and Hertsmere, where rents differ). The ONS average private rent there is £1,814 a month (May 2026). The spread runs from £1,256 a month for a typical one-bed to £2,634 at four-plus bedrooms, which is size doing most of the pricing.
Average monthly rent by size, Watford
ONS Price Index of Private Rents, May 2026.
Set against the £475,000 median sold price, £1,814 a month is £21,768 a year, a gross yield of 4.6%: gross, before letting costs, voids, maintenance and tax, so a ceiling rather than a promise. Rents are published at local-authority level, so nearby districts in the same authority share these figures.
Common questions on WD (Watford)
Is WD (Watford) a good place to buy a house?
How much did a house sell for in WD (Watford)?
Are property prices falling in WD (Watford)?
Will WD prices rise from here?
No honest page predicts prices, so this one sticks to the record: the median is roughly flat over five years in cash but down 19% 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.
What you could buy in WD now
Everything above is what homes in WD sold for. This is what you could actually buy today: 744 homes currently on the market from 12 agents publishing to HomesIndex, at a typical asking price 16% above the WD median sold price.
23% of what is on the market here is asking below what comparable homes actually sold for. Every listing is measured against recent recorded sales of similar nearby homes.
- Wander Wharf, Kings Langley, WD4, Kings Langley
- De Havilland Way, Abbots Langley, WD5
- Deacons Hill Road, Elstree, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire
"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 WD home for sale on the map →
These asking prices come live from estate agents publishing feeds to HomesIndex, refreshed each Monday and Thursday. They are a sample of the market rather than its entirety, and an asking price is not a sale price.
Bedroom by bedroom: WD prices by size
Real sold prices by size across the WD area, straight from the Land Registry record. How much a size step costs is a local fact: the third-bedroom premium runs from about a quarter to nearly four fifths depending on the area, and national rules of thumb miss it.
| Type | 1 bed | 2 bed | 3 bed | 4 bed | 5 bed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | — | £570,000 | £809,500 (+42%) | £1,120,000 (+38%) | £1,514,000 (+35%) |
| Semi-detached | £412,500 | £497,250 (+21%) | £585,000 (+18%) | £760,000 (+30%) | £975,000 (+28%) |
| Terraced | £380,000 | £425,000 (+12%) | £507,750 (+19%) | £624,750 (+23%) | £845,000 (+35%) |
| Flat | £250,000 | £355,000 (+42%) | £572,500 (+61%) | £1,000,000 (+75%) | — |
Built from the last four years of recorded sales by form and bedroom count. Bedroom counts are estimated from EPC records (the register carries none), so expect a small number of homes one size adrift. Sizes with too few homes to be meaningful are left blank.
The risers and the fallers
The spread across the WD area is the point: the same five years treated these districts very differently.
WD area districts: five years of change
The biggest risers and fallers in cash terms; every row links to that district's report.
District by district
The area medians above hide a lot. Here is every WD district with enough sales to measure, dearest first; each links to its own full report.
| District | Median (2026) | 5-year | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| WD7 Radlett, Shenley | £670,000 | -21% | 59 |
| WD3 Rickmansworth, Chorleywood | £600,000 | +5% | 196 |
| WD4 Kings Langley, Chipperfield | £564,500 | +3% | 61 |
| WD23 Bushey, Bushey Heath | £543,500 | -1% | 144 |
| WD25 Garston, Leavesden | £497,500 | +16% | 92 |
| WD5 Abbots Langley, Bedmond | £461,500 | +3% | 50 |
| WD19 Oxhey, South Oxhey | £440,000 | +5% | 133 |
| WD6 Borehamwood, Elstree | £432,500 | -8% | 140 |
| WD24 North Watford | £412,500 | +9% | 108 |
| WD17 Watford town centre, Cassiobury | £400,000 | -2% | 81 |
| WD18 West Watford, Holywell | £372,500 | +6% | 84 |
Selling in WD? Start from the sold record
Ground the asking price in real sold prices first. The average prices map gives a rough value in a minute: start at WD'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 WD.
Keep digging
Behind the answers sits the same Land Registry record as this page, with WD already set as the subject. Free, one click sign in.
See every individual WD sale on the live map, mapped to the exact address, or zoom the average prices map from neighbourhood shading down to single homes. The report tool writes a custom answer to a specific question, and the mortgage and rent calculator on any sale runs the numbers on a real purchase.
How this page is made: the statistics are computed from HM Land Registry Price Paid Data (Crown copyright, OGL v3.0), geocoded to address level; inflation adjustment uses the ONS CPIH index; rents are the ONS Price Index of Private Rents at local-authority level. Medians of recorded sales, not valuations. Nothing on this page is financial advice.