The June figure is up £5,187 on a year ago but down on the month, 196th of 295 English areas for growth. Semis and terraces rose 2.6%, flats fell, and the 2022 peak is still £26,717 away.

The average home in the Dorset Council area was worth £325,410 in June 2026. That is £5,187, or 1.6%, more than in June 2025, according to the HM Land Registry UK House Price Index published on 21 August.

The headline hides two less comfortable facts. Prices fell 0.4% between May and June, from £326,875. And the annual rise measures from a low point: June 2025 was the weakest month Dorset had seen in three years, when the index stood at £320,223 and was 2.2% down on the year before.

Put the two Junes side by side and the picture is a market that has climbed back to roughly where it was in the summer of 2024, when the average was £327,355, and no further.

Where Dorset sits among 295 English areas

We ranked every English local authority in the full June 2026 index file by its annual change. Dorset’s 1.6% comes 196th of 295. Prices fell over the year in 62 areas, so Dorset is in the rising majority, but in its slower half.

The neighbours make the point:

Area Average, June 2026 Annual change Rank of 295
Somerset £281,571 +4.5% 92nd
East Devon £345,757 +3.5% 126th
Wiltshire £328,908 +2.7% 151st
Dorset £325,410 +1.6% 196th
New Forest £380,310 +1.2% 205th
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole £312,162 -1.6% 264th

Every figure in the table comes from the same Land Registry file. Dorset is now more expensive than the conurbation next door: the BCP average has slipped £13,248 below Dorset’s after a year of falls.

Against the wider benchmarks Dorset is a shade behind. The South West average rose 1.9% to £304,562, and England rose 1.8% to £293,262. Dorset’s average is £32,148 above the English one, and on price alone it is the 128th most expensive of the 295 areas.

Semis and terraces up, flats down

The single average conceals a split by type of home. In the year to June 2026:

  • Detached: £515,144, up 1.4%
  • Semi-detached: £330,336, up 2.6%
  • Terraced: £264,807, up 2.6%
  • Flats: £167,991, down 0.5%

The mid-market did the work. Semis and terraces, the homes most families and most first-time buyers are competing for, rose at more than one and a half times the county rate. Flats fell for the year and are now £22,773 below their October 2022 level of £190,764.

A first-time buyer paid £254,881 on average in June, up 1.9% on the year. A home mover paid £389,721. That gap, £134,840, is roughly the price of a Dorset flat on top.

Dorset average house price, June 2025 to June 2026 Line chart of the Land Registry average price for the Dorset Council area over thirteen months. June 2025 £320,223, July £325,504, August £330,195, September £332,267, October £330,507, November £328,481, December £328,200, January 2026 £328,674, February £328,486, March £329,030, April £326,137, May £326,875, June 2026 £325,410. A dashed marker notes that the October 2022 peak of £352,127 sits above the range shown. Dorset average house price, June 2025 to June 2026 HM Land Registry UK House Price Index, Dorset Council area, mean average, not seasonally adjusted October 2022 peak £352,127 sits above this scale £335k £330k £325k £320k £320,223 £332,267 £325,410 Jun 25 Sep 25 Dec 25 Mar 26 Jun 26 Source: HM Land Registry UK House Price Index, June 2026 release (21 August 2026). Graphic by The Dorset Post.
The average rose through last autumn, peaked at £332,267 in September and has drifted since. It is still well short of the October 2022 high. Graphic by The Dorset Post.

Still £26,717 short of the 2022 peak

Dorset’s average peaked at £352,127 in October 2022. June 2026 is £26,717, or 7.6%, below that. The three Junes since tell the story in one line each:

  • June 2023: £333,988
  • June 2024: £327,355
  • June 2025: £320,223
  • June 2026: £325,410

This year’s rise is the first June-on-June increase since 2022. It recovers less than half of what was lost in the two years before it.

Sales are back to normal after the stamp duty rush

The index also records how many homes changed hands, though the count runs about two months behind the price. The most recent month with a sales figure is April 2026, when 330 sales were registered in the Dorset Council area, against 378 in March.

Compare that with spring 2025. 1,146 sales completed in March 2025 as buyers raced to beat the 1 April 2025 stamp duty threshold change, and just 221 in April 2025. Anyone comparing this spring with last spring, in either direction, is mostly measuring that distortion.

What it means for you

If you are selling: the county-wide average is a mean, dragged up by the detached market, and it is not what a typical home fetches. Our Dorset house prices page gives the median sold price for 19 post towns, from Portland at £230,000 to St Leonards at £643,750, from every registered sale in the year to June. Price against your town, not the county.

If you are buying: flats are the one type still getting cheaper, and the first-time buyer average of £254,881 is £70,529 below the county mean. Terraced homes, the next rung, rose 2.6% in a year, so waiting has not been free.

If you are watching the trend: three consecutive months of a flat or falling average, with the annual figure flattered by last year’s trough, is not a market taking off. The July figure is due from the Land Registry in the third week of September.

Council tax follows the 1991 valuation, not today’s price. A sale does not move your band. What each band costs in every Dorset parish this year is on our Dorset council tax bands page.

UKHPI figures are mean averages built from Land Registry completions and are revised for two months after first publication. Prices are not seasonally adjusted. Dorset here means the Dorset Council area, excluding Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.