The average Southend home was £325,586 in June, down £4,996 since February but still £11,568 up on the year. How that compares with Rochford and Castle Point.
The average Southend home was worth £325,586 in June, £11,568 more than a year earlier. That is the headline in the latest UK House Price Index, and on its own it makes the market look strong.
The rest of the same file says something different. Southend peaked in February at £330,582 and has come down in cash terms every month since. June alone took off 0.8%, the steepest monthly fall since September 2025 (UK House Price Index, HM Land Registry).
Both things are true because of where the year started. June 2025 was a weak month: the average was £314,018 and falling, down 2.3% on the year at that point. Measuring from a trough flatters the annual figure.
The numbers
| June 2026 | Change on the year | |
|---|---|---|
| All property types | £325,586 | +£11,568 (+3.7%) |
| Detached | £637,039 | +3.2% |
| Semi-detached | £426,047 | +4.9% |
| Terraced | £331,347 | +5.2% |
| Flat or maisonette | £197,719 | +1.8% |
| First-time buyer average | £268,394 |
Every one of those types is down on February. Detached has given up £11,907, semi-detached £4,313, terraced £3,684 and flats £4,253. A first-time buyer is paying £3,645 less than in February, and £9,918 more than a year ago.
One caveat on “every month since February”: March slipped by £322 and April by £88, which the index publishes as -0.1% and 0.0%. The fall only becomes visible in May and June.
Middling nationally, near the bottom in Essex
Set against every local authority district in England, Southend’s annual rise of 3.7% is unremarkable: 115th of 295, in a month when 62 districts fell outright and Northumberland led the country at 12.6%.
The monthly figure is where Southend stands out, and not in a good way. Its 0.8% fall ranks 241st of 295, in a month when 113 English districts fell. Among the 14 Essex districts and unitaries it is 12th of 14 on the month, with only Castle Point and Brentwood doing worse.
| Essex district | Change on the month | Average price |
|---|---|---|
| Braintree | +2.6% | £330,637 |
| Rochford | +1.2% | £415,574 |
| Tendring | +1.0% | £261,717 |
| Harlow | +0.8% | £313,338 |
| Basildon | +0.8% | £360,294 |
| Uttlesford | +0.3% | £482,652 |
| Chelmsford | +0.3% | £383,103 |
| Colchester | -0.1% | £298,003 |
| Maldon | -0.4% | £384,348 |
| Thurrock | -0.5% | £327,176 |
| Epping Forest | -0.6% | £536,765 |
| Southend-on-Sea | -0.8% | £325,586 |
| Castle Point | -0.9% | £362,602 |
| Brentwood | -2.8% | £513,537 |
On the year, though, Southend is third of the 14 at +3.7%, behind Rochford (+6.2%) and Epping Forest (+4.9%), and ahead of Essex as a county (+1.2%), the East of England (+1.1%) and England (+1.8%). Five Essex districts are negative over 12 months. Southend is not one of them.
The gap with the two boroughs next door
If you are moving out of Southend, the two obvious options have moved in opposite directions.
- Rochford has pulled away. Its average is £415,574, which is £89,988 above Southend. A year ago that gap was £77,162. It has widened by £12,826 in twelve months.
- Castle Point has come closer. The borough next door, covering Canvey Island, Benfleet, Hadleigh and Thundersley, averages £362,602, £37,016 above Southend, down from a £52,730 gap a year ago. Castle Point is one of the five Essex districts whose prices fell over the year, by 1.1%.
For anyone looking just over the Leigh boundary, that second line is the useful one: the premium for crossing into Castle Point has shrunk by roughly £15,700 in a year.
Three things to hold in mind
It is a mean, not a median. UKHPI averages every sale, so a handful of large Thorpe Bay or Chalkwell transactions pulls the figure up in a way a median would not. It is a guide to direction, not to what your street is worth.
It gets revised, sometimes after we have published it. Our own Southend house prices page carried May 2026 as £328,939, up 4.2%, because that is what the May release said. In the June release, May reads £328,232, up 4.0%: a £707 cut to an already-published number. We have updated that page to the June figures. Treat the newest month as the least settled.
Southend records few sales a month. The index counts 127 completions in April 2026, 177 in March and 174 in February, the most recent months with a published sales count. Volumes lag prices by about three months. They also still carry last year’s stamp duty distortion: Southend recorded 446 sales in March 2025 and 86 in April 2025, either side of the threshold change, against 177 and 127 in the same months this year.
What it means for you
- Selling: the market has drifted down since February in every property type. Asking prices set in the spring are being set against a market that has moved.
- Buying: a first-time buyer average of £268,394 is £3,645 below February, but £9,918 above last June. The direction over a year and over a quarter is not the same, so pick the one that matches your timescale.
- Comparing areas: the Castle Point premium has narrowed sharply, the Rochford premium has widened. Both are worth checking before you rule an area in or out.
- Council tax is a separate question. Bands come from a 1991 valuation and do not move with the market. Ours are set out on the Southend council tax bands page.
- The full picture, by property type and area, is kept up to date on our Southend house prices page.
The July 2026 figures are due from HM Land Registry at 9.30am on 16 September.
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