Record Breaking House Prices in Oxfordshire
- House prices in Oxfordshire are 3.4% higher than one year before.
- Lowest September on record for sales volume, as market recovers from April's SDLT changes.
- New builds are now worth 41% more than pre-existing properties.
- New builds were up 11% despite pre-existing homes up only 3%, YoY to November.
- Record-breaking summer for average house prices, having peaked in September and remained above £420,000 since.
- The city of Oxford remains the county's most expensive district to buy a home, 39% more costly than Cherwell.
- Thame has the lowest crime rate.
- South Oxfordshire has the greatest 10-year property price growth. Year-on-year, it's the Vale of White Horse.
- Across the South East, house prices are expected to increase 16% over the 5 years to 2029 (Savills).
Are house prices going up in Oxfordshire?
Average house prices have grown 3.4% since the same time last year. We've seen the usual seasonal cool-off toward the end of last year, but we expect new records to be set in the spring.
Worst September on record for volume of property sales in Oxfordshire
Only 539 property sales went through in the county; the lowest single month outside of the 2008-9 crash, lockdown, and the SDLT bottleneck in 2025. An average September for Oxfordshire property sales would be 934 (2016-2025). This was largely down to more expensive stamp duty, despite the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, and, more importantly, anticipation of the autumn budget.
The budget was over-hyped and contained little meaningful change for homebuyers, and activity has since picked up the pace, as we expect to see confirmed by Land Registry data, once released.
How does the Bank of England affect the Oxfordshire Housing Market?
Borrowing has been slowly returning to a more affordable level. The recent cut to 3.75% in December means mortgage rates are lower than they have been for three years, allowing buyers to spend more and driving growth in house prices and property sales volume.
Oxford Economics predicts the base rate will fall to 2.5% in 2027. The cost-of-living crisis is easing with inflation well under the 11.2% October peak. However, relative to wage growth, households will not be as well-off as they were pre-pandemic until 2027-2029.
Are you thinking of buying or selling a property in Oxfordshire?
Why Move to Oxfordshire in 2026?
World-leading innovation meets quintessential English charm.
Science and Research Opportunities
Science Vale UK (across Didcot, Wantage, and Abingdon) is undergoing significant job creation in Life Sciences, Fusion Energy, and Space Technology. Tech spin-outs from the University of Oxford mean more job opportunities in AI, data science, and biotech.
Infrastructure Development
Road and bridge improvements, including cycle paths and new bus stops to ease congestion in Didcot; county-wide 5G rollout; and improvements to the East West Rail link between Oxford, Cambridge and London.
Sustainable Housing Development
Garden villages like Salt Cross, prioritise green space and biodiversity.
Quality of Life
The county boasts three Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB): the Cotswolds, the Chilterns, and the North Wessex Downs.
Oxford has the most active relative property market YoY
Sales volume across the county of Oxfordshire had recovered from COVID by 2024, but the SDLT changes made in 2025 have limited movement in the housing market. Every district in the county saw fewer property transactions in the latest data release from the Land Registry than in the same month in the previous year.
The city of Oxford had the most active relative property market year on year, down by just 33%. However, Oxford has seen the second steepest decline over ten years (-54%).
The Vale of White Horse has had the sharpest short-term decline at -40% year on year, but long-term transactions are down by just 34% over ten years.
Are houses in Oxfordshire expensive?
Average house prices in every district of Oxfordshire are higher than the national average. Cherwell, the most affordable district (£353,563), is 23% more expensive than the England and Wales average. Oxford (£490,633) is 71% higher.
The county as a whole is more expensive than Warwickshire (£307,884) and West Northamptonshire (£294,452) to the north, West Berkshire (£407,112) to the south, and Gloucestershire (£320,479) to the west; but average house prices are higher in Buckinghamshire (£481,721) to the east.
The most expensive places to buy a home in Oxfordshire are Burford, Henley, and Watlington.
Where is the cheapest place to buy in Oxfordshire?
According to Zoopla, the postcodes with the cheapest average homes are OX16 (Banbury, £226,484), OX18 (Bampton, Burford, Carterton, £282,955), and OX26 (Bicester, Chesterton, Launton, £286,696). All three areas have lower average house prices than England and Wales as a whole.
Long-term Oxfordshire property market investment
South Oxford and the Vale of the White Horse share the lead, with 33% 10-year price growth. Oxford's house prices, bringing up the rear, grew by only 20%. The county of Oxfordshire, at 29% growth, is well behind the national average at 43%.
Average house prices have grown 9% in just 12 months in the Vale of the White Horse.
New homes in Oxfordshire are now over 41% more expensive than existing properties
New homes typically cost more, much like buying a brand-new car. The gap between new and pre-existing house prices in Oxfordshire has remained around 30% for decades, but has broken records, widening significantly over the past year
Interestingly, other regions are being affected to greater extremes, with new builds in the North East reaching an eye-watering 118% gap.
The average cost of a new build in Oxfordshire rose by 11% in the past 12 months.
Existing house prices in the county saw 3% growth in the same period
Where are the safest places to live in Oxfordshire?
Oxfordshire overall has a crime rate of 54 crimes per 1,000 residents, well below the national average crime rate, which is 72. The most prevalent type is Violence and Sexual Offences, which is typical, and the crime rate for this type in the county is 25% lower than the regional and national rates.
The Crime Risk scores are calculated by taking the severity of each crime type into account; the 10-year trend shows the crime risk up by 42 points, but over 5 years it is down by 12.
Every type of crime has a lower rate compared to the UK average, except for bicycle theft, which is 88% higher. Crime rates can affect your home insurance premiums and potential rental yield, and may also impact your peaceful enjoyment of the property.
Comparing Oxfordshire's larger towns and cities, and using Crime Risk Scores - which are calculated by taking severity of each crime type into account - Blackbird Leys is the most dangerous. The next most dangerous is Great Faringdon, and Oxford comes in as third most dangerous. There are safer parts of Oxfordshire, identified using the same Crime Risk measurement, starting with Wallingford which ranks as the safest area in Oxfordshire, followed up by Henley-on-Thames in second place, and Kidlington in third place.
Source: CrimeRate
Should I buy a house in Oxfordshire?
- Manageable price growth.
- Countryside charm.
- Three Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty: Cotswolds, Chilterns, and North Wessex Downs.
- Abundance of classy, period homes.
- Historic market towns .
- Excellent schools.
- Transport links to London, Reading, and Birmingham.
- Around 4% rental yields.
- Employment opportunities in diverse fields, including Manufacturing and Motorsport; Wholesale and retail trade; Agriculture and countryside; Education and schools; Public-sector organisations, including healthcare, social work, and childcare.
Average fixed rate mortgages are below 4.5% and falling, and Oxfordshire property prices are back on the climb after the stasis since the 2022 peak. If you can afford to buy now and get on the ladder before house prices start to increase again, you'll likely be able to switch to an even more affordable mortgage rate in 2027; by this point, the value should have risen a few per cent, and you'll have built some equity by making your mortgage payments.
Across the South East, house prices are expected to increase by 16% from 2025 to 2029
SavillsIf you are renting and can afford to buy at the current rate of interest, this may be a much more desirable option than saving for a bigger deposit, as rents are still rising, whereas mortgage rates are likely to fall.
However, if you are stretching your budget to buy or upsize, consider saving a bit longer or opting for a more affordable borough. If the base rate rises again, you may be unable to keep up with your monthly repayments when your fixed rate ends.
Worse yet, if prices fall, you could end up in negative equity, owing more money than your home is worth. Buying a home with a mortgage always comes with risks. Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
If you are ready to buy a house in Northamptonshire or the surrounding area, we can handle your purchase with a dedicated SAM Conveyancing Consultant to manage your transaction alongside one of our hand-selected panel solicitors.
There are more affordable mortgage options, we have the most properties for sale per estate agent branch since 2018, and the base rate staying put allows lenders to keep their mortgage rates stable.
Andrew Boast FMAAT MIC | CEO and Author | SAM ConveyancingSources: Latest data from - Gov.UK, Bank of England, UK House Price Index, Savills.
Caragh is an excellent writer and copy editor of books, news articles and editorials. She has written extensively for SAM for a variety of conveyancing, survey, property law and mortgage-related articles.
Andrew started his career in 2000 working within conveyancing solicitor firms and grew hands-on knowledge of a wide variety of conveyancing challenges and solutions. After helping in excess of 50,000 clients in his career, he uses all this experience within his article writing for SAM, mainstream media and his self published book How to Buy a House Without Killing Anyone.
Without Killing Anyone
This book could be the difference between every mover’s dream, buying and moving into your new home stress free, or, stress, missed deadlines, legal disasters, building defects, and possibly the collapse of the whole transaction. (Costing you a small fortune, a head full of grey hairs, and, driving you to threaten the life of your solicitor, lender, co-owners, family, partner, or some combination of all five).
With more than two decades’ experience in the conveyancing sector and over 50,000 successful client moves under his belt, Andrew shares insider tips and advice to empower you as a buyer, giving you the tools to make the best decisions for your circumstances and ease the chaos.
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