Twenty of London’s 33 boroughs fell in the year to May 2026, and the falls are not evenly spread. The City of London lost 28.1 percent, the City of Westminster 22.8 percent and Kensington and Chelsea 10.7 percent. Meanwhile Waltham Forest rose 3.1 percent and Havering 2.8.
This is HM Land Registry’s own index, built from registered completions rather than asking prices. Below is every borough, in order of price, so the pattern can be read rather than asserted.
Every London borough, by average price
Average price and annual change for all 33 London boroughs, HM Land Registry UK House Price Index, May 2026.
| Borough | Average price | Annual | Flats | Detached |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kensington and Chelsea | £1,255,567 | -10.7% | -11.0% | -8.2% |
| City of Westminster | £836,331 | -22.8% | -23.1% | -20.3% |
| Camden | £805,837 | -6.2% | -6.7% | -3.5% |
| Richmond upon Thames | £788,872 | -2.5% | -4.1% | -2.4% |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | £729,407 | -10.9% | -11.6% | -9.0% |
| Islington | £669,879 | -6.4% | -7.0% | -3.1% |
| Wandsworth | £659,547 | -6.1% | -6.9% | -5.8% |
| Haringey | £633,853 | +2.4% | +0.7% | +4.4% |
| City of London | £626,980 | -28.1% | -28.1% | n/a |
| Hackney | £608,470 | +0.1% | -0.6% | +0.5% |
| Merton | £597,138 | -1.3% | -3.7% | -1.4% |
| Barnet | £590,583 | -4.3% | -5.9% | -4.8% |
| Kingston upon Thames | £582,403 | 0.0% | -2.2% | +0.5% |
| Southwark | £578,683 | +0.9% | 0.0% | +1.5% |
| Ealing | £568,887 | -2.5% | -4.7% | -2.2% |
| Brent | £548,895 | -3.3% | -5.2% | -2.7% |
| Lambeth | £545,315 | -2.9% | -3.8% | -1.5% |
| London (all) | £544,814 | -3.7% | -6.6% | -2.3% |
| Harrow | £530,021 | +0.4% | -2.1% | -0.7% |
| Bromley | £524,638 | +0.2% | -1.8% | 0.0% |
| Waltham Forest | £524,337 | +3.1% | +0.6% | +3.8% |
| Hounslow | £501,326 | -2.4% | -4.7% | -1.3% |
| Lewisham | £496,774 | +2.3% | +0.1% | +3.7% |
| Redbridge | £495,947 | +2.4% | -0.4% | +1.5% |
| Enfield | £469,164 | -0.7% | -3.5% | -1.4% |
| Hillingdon | £467,887 | -0.7% | -3.5% | -1.1% |
| Greenwich | £463,436 | +0.1% | -1.8% | +1.4% |
| Havering | £452,798 | +2.8% | -0.2% | +2.9% |
| Sutton | £445,451 | +0.9% | -1.4% | +0.5% |
| Tower Hamlets | £444,332 | -14.5% | -14.8% | -13.5% |
| Bexley | £408,585 | +2.2% | -0.5% | +2.2% |
| Newham | £405,002 | -1.4% | -3.2% | +1.6% |
| Croydon | £396,760 | -0.4% | -2.8% | -0.8% |
| Barking and Dagenham | £360,889 | -0.2% | -3.4% | +1.6% |
Read on 5 August 2026. The London aggregate is shown in place, italicised, so each borough can be read against the city average. The City of London reports no detached figure, having almost no detached housing.
Price explains about half of it, and we are not going to overstate that
Across the 33 boroughs the rank correlation between average price and annual change is -0.503. Expensive boroughs did worse, but the relationship is moderate rather than mechanical, and it is worth being precise about where that sits.
It is materially weaker than the -0.895 we found across the twelve UK regions and published as an inversion, and materially stronger than the -0.276 we found between classic car prices and auction sell-through and refused to build a claim on. A publication that states an evidentiary bar has to apply it in the middle of the range as well as at the ends. So: price is about half the story in London, and something else is the other half.
The blunt version of the same data is clearer than the coefficient. The ten dearest boroughs averaged -9.1 percent with eight of ten falling. The ten cheapest averaged -1.2 percent with six of ten falling. Both groups are mostly down; the expensive end is down roughly eight times as far.
Tower Hamlets is the borough that breaks the pattern
Tower Hamlets is the 30th most expensive of London’s 33 boroughs, at an average of £444,332, and it recorded the third-largest fall in the city at -14.5 percent. Nothing about its price explains that. It sits below Croydon and Bexley on value and below only the City of London and Westminster on decline.
The composition column points at the reason. Tower Hamlets flats fell 14.8 percent against 13.5 for detached homes, and the borough is overwhelmingly flats: it contains Canary Wharf and the largest concentration of new-build apartment stock in London. Where a borough is priced on flats, it moves with flats.
That is an inference from the property-type split, not a measured cause, and we are labelling it as one. The index reports prices by property type; it does not report why anyone stopped buying.
Flats fell in 29 of 33 boroughs
Averaged across London’s 33 boroughs, flats fell 5.1 percent in the year to May 2026 while detached homes fell 1.8 percent. Flats were negative in 29 of the 33, including in boroughs whose overall figure was positive: Havering rose 2.8 percent overall while its flats fell 0.2, and Barking and Dagenham was almost flat overall at -0.2 while its flats fell 3.4.
This is the single most consistent finding in the London data and it runs nationally too, where flats and maisonettes were the only English property type to fall. A borough’s headline number is largely a statement about how much of its stock is flats. Read the property-type columns before the headline one.
Where London is still rising
Thirteen boroughs rose. The strongest were Waltham Forest at +3.1 percent, Havering +2.8, Haringey +2.4, Redbridge +2.4, Lewisham +2.3 and Bexley +2.2.
Five of those six are outer boroughs, and Haringey is the exception at £633,853. Their detached figures are stronger still: Haringey’s detached homes rose 4.4 percent, Waltham Forest’s 3.8 and Lewisham’s 3.7. The rising part of London is houses in the outer ring, and it is rising while the center falls.
What this index does and does not measure
- It lags about two months. UKHPI is built from registered completions, so May 2026 reflects sales agreed earlier in the year.
- Smaller boroughs are volatile. The City of London registers very few residential sales, so its -28.1 percent moves further on the same underlying change than a large borough would. Our twelve-month series shows the prime decline is sustained rather than a single bad month.
- It is mix-adjusted, not repeat-sales. A change in what sells moves a borough average independently of what any individual home is worth.
- It measures prices, not volumes. A borough can print a stable price on very few transactions.
Frequently asked questions
Which London borough fell most?
The City of London at -28.1 percent, then the City of Westminster at -22.8 and Tower Hamlets at -14.5, in the year to May 2026.
Which London boroughs are rising?
Thirteen of 33. The fastest were Waltham Forest at +3.1 percent, Havering +2.8, and Haringey and Redbridge at +2.4 each.
Is it only expensive boroughs falling?
Mostly. Eight of the ten dearest fell, averaging -9.1 percent, against six of the ten cheapest averaging -1.2. Tower Hamlets is the clear exception, 30th on price and third on decline.
This piece is part of our property reference, What a British House Costs to Hold: Official Prices, by Region and by Borough, which sets out the method and collects every figure we have published on the subject. Also in it: England’s House Prices Rose 2.3 Percent. Kensington and Chelsea Fell 10.7. Westminster Fell 22.8., The Cheapest Parts of Britain Are Rising Fastest. The Most Expensive Is the Only One Falling., Flats Are the Weakest Property Type in All 13 UK Regions. In England They Fell 2.2 Percent While Detached Rose 2.5., The Top Third of US Housing Lagged the Bottom in 65% of Metros. In the Biggest 25, It Led., Stamp Duty on a 10 Million Pound House Runs From 1.11m to 1.81m. The House Is the Same..
Sources for these London borough figures
Every average price and annual change above is HM Land Registry UK House Price Index data for May 2026, covering all 33 London boroughs plus the London aggregate, read from the index on 5 August 2026. UKHPI is the United Kingdom’s official house price statistic, compiled from completions registered with HM Land Registry rather than from asking prices or agreed sales, which is why it lags roughly two months and why it cannot be talked up by anyone with a house to sell.
The ranking of boroughs, the -0.503 rank correlation between average price and annual change, the dearest-ten and cheapest-ten averages, and the flats-against-detached comparison are all our own arithmetic on the published index rather than figures HM Land Registry states. The London aggregate is excluded from the correlation because it is a composite of the boroughs. Related: our study of the same divergence across the twelve UK regions.