Photo: Sealman · Public domainAxminster’s median home sold for £250,000
That is the middle of 286 standard sales from September 2023 to August 2026, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. Axminster grades B for cost of living: prices, rent and council tax against what households in the area earn, #2 of 47 in Devon.
What Axminster’s housing numbers say
Prices have stood still since 2024
The median sale reached £263,263 in the year to August 2023 and was £252,500 in the year to August 2026. Over ten years the median sale in Axminster went up 40%; in the typical UK town it went up 42%. Since 1995–96 prices have gone up 6 times, from £42,250. Price trend ↓
Rents are rising faster than across England
The average rent in the East Devon council area went up 6% in the year to August 2026, against 4% across England. Over five years it rose 24% (England 35%). Renting ↓
Written from the data on this page: HM Land Registry sales since 1995, ONS private rents and household income, and council tax from MHCLG and the Welsh Government.
Axminster grades B for cost of living
Each cost against what households in the East Devon council area earn (£53,349 a year, mean), ranked against UK towns.
The median home helps it: cheaper for local incomes than in 70% of UK towns. Axminster is #2 of 47 Devon towns for cost of living.
Flat for three years, and up 40% in ten
The median of every standard sale in Axminster each year (September to August), against the typical UK town of 2,500+ (the middle of all their medians). Ten years: Axminster +40%, typical town +42%. Five years: +13% against +11%.
Show as a table
| Year to August | Axminster | Typical town | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | £252,500 | £277,000 | 85 |
| 2024–25 | £245,000 | £280,000 | 98 |
| 2023–24 | £247,500 | £275,000 | 103 |
| 2022–23 | £263,263 | £280,000 | 125 |
| 2021–22 | £249,500 | £265,000 | 125 |
| 2020–21 | £223,500 | £250,000 | 166 |
| 2019–20 | £224,500 | £230,000 | 100 |
| 2018–19 | £210,000 | £225,000 | 128 |
| 2017–18 | £185,000 | £219,950 | 105 |
| 2016–17 | £199,995 | £210,000 | 141 |
| 2015–16 | £179,950 | £195,000 | 176 |
| 2014–15 | £186,950 | £183,500 | 185 |
| 2013–14 | £170,000 | £173,500 | 120 |
| 2012–13 | £170,500 | £165,000 | 84 |
| 2011–12 | £165,000 | £162,500 | 86 |
| 2010–11 | £170,000 | £163,250 | 96 |
| 2009–10 | £171,375 | £163,975 | 86 |
| 2008–09 | £175,000 | £155,000 | 65 |
| 2007–08 | £170,000 | £172,625 | 85 |
| 2006–07 | £168,500 | £169,000 | 168 |
| 2005–06 | £158,000 | £159,000 | 149 |
| 2004–05 | £156,000 | £154,000 | 145 |
| 2003–04 | £154,475 | £141,250 | 140 |
| 2002–03 | £118,000 | £122,000 | 88 |
| 2001–02 | £81,000 | £94,950 | 129 |
| 2000–01 | £73,725 | £80,000 | 108 |
| 1999–00 | £71,450 | £71,000 | 127 |
| 1998–99 | £57,440 | £63,500 | 91 |
| 1997–98 | £52,339 | £59,437 | 86 |
| 1996–97 | £42,500 | £55,747 | 99 |
| 1995–96 | £42,250 | £52,000 | 74 |
The median Axminster home sold for £180K in the year to August 2016, and £253K in the year to August 2026.
HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard (category A) sales of houses and flats inside the built-up area, by the year to August. These are actual sale prices, not an index: a year with more flats or new builds moves the median as well as prices do. The newest months are still being registered.
What homes sell for, by type
Medians of 286 standard sales, September 2023 to August 2026. The tick on each bar is the typical UK town of 2,500+.
Against the typical UK town, detached houses here sell for 7% less and flats 21% less.
Show as a table
| Type | Median | Sales | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | £360,000 | 87 | 30% |
| Semi-detached | £257,000 | 61 | 21% |
| Terraced | £220,000 | 96 | 34% |
| Flat or maisonette | £125,500 | 42 | 15% |
HM Land Registry Price Paid: category A sales (one home at full market value), so repossessions, company buy-to-lets and bulk sales are left out. In the last 12 months the median was £252,500 (85 sales).
About 110 sales a year, down from 170 before 2008
Standard sales in Axminster each year to August. Since the 2008 crash the market here has run at about 60% of its mid-2000s pace. Sales jumped in 2020–21, when stamp duty was cut.
The last bar (85 sales) is still filling: Land Registry adds a sale when the transfer is registered, often two to three months after completion.
A typical Axminster home costs 4.7 years of area income
Most lenders cap a mortgage at about 4.5 times household income. The calculator starts from the area’s mean household income; switch to your own.
An estimate, not a mortgage offer: borrowing of up to 4.5× income, a 25-year repayment mortgage at the rate shown, and Band D council tax (your band may differ). Stamp duty uses England’s rates from 1 April 2025, with first-time buyers’ relief. Other debts, fees and survey costs aren’t included.
A two-bedroom rents for about £896 a month
The average private rent in the East Devon council area is £968 a month (August 2026): £491 less than England’s, £277 less than South West’s.
By size a month, the tick is England
ONS Price Index of Private Rents: the mean rent of all private tenancies, new and existing (not asking rents), for the whole East Devon council area. It’s the smallest area the ONS publishes.
Band D is £2,669 for 2026–27; East Devon council’s average is the 4th lowest of Devon’s 10
Axminster’s bill is the East Devon council’s share with the county or combined authority, police and fire shares, plus the parish or town council precept of about £188 a year. England’s average Band D is £2,392. Since 1993–94, East Devon’s average Band D has risen from £497: 422% in 33 years.
Average Band D 2026–27, by council
| Band value in 1991 | A year | A month |
|---|---|---|
| Band A up to £40,000 | £1,780 | £178 |
| Band B £40,001–52,000 | £2,076 | £208 |
| Band C £52,001–68,000 | £2,373 | £237 |
| Band D £68,001–88,000 | £2,669 | £267 |
| Band E £88,001–120,000 | £3,263 | £326 |
| Band F £120,001–160,000 | £3,856 | £386 |
| Band G £160,001–320,000 | £4,449 | £445 |
| Band H over £320,000 | £5,339 | £534 |
Your band comes from what your home would have sold for in April 1991, set by the Valuation Office Agency; look it up on GOV.UK. Each band pays a fixed fraction of Band D, from six ninths (A) to two (H). Living alone takes 25% off.
60% of households own their home; 18% rent privately
Census 2021, all households. More households rent from a council or housing association than across Devon’s towns (19% against 14%).
Devon and England: all residents of their built-up areas (towns and cities), from the same Census 2021 output areas.
255th of 732 UK towns its size for what a home costs against income
Median sale price ÷ the area’s mean household income, cheapest first, for UK towns of 4,000 to 8,000 people: the towns either side of Axminster, and others in Devon.
| # | Town | Median home | ÷ income | Rent | Band D | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Horden County Durham | £57K | 1.3× | £650 | £2,912 | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 252 | Sowerby North Yorkshire | £250K | 4.7× | £849 | £2,545 | B+ |
| 253 | Carlton in Lindrick Nottinghamshire | £215K | 4.7× | £727 | £2,707 | B |
| 254 | Warboys Cambridgeshire | £295K | 4.7× | £1,057 | £2,568 | A |
| 255 | Axminster Devon | £250K | 4.7× | £968 | £2,669 | B |
| 256 | Crewkerne Somerset | £243K | 4.7× | £1,016 | £2,632 | B− |
| 257 | Market Weighton East Riding of Yorkshire | £230K | 4.7× | £724 | £2,513 | A− |
| 258 | Stanton Hill and Skegby Nottinghamshire | £210K | 4.7× | £795 | £2,597 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 321 | Crediton Devon | £260K | 5× | £878 | £2,738 | B |
| … | ||||||
| 346 | Cranbrook Devon | £275K | 5.2× | £968 | £2,731 | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 434 | Chudleigh Devon | £291K | 5.6× | £961 | £2,667 | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 438 | Great Torrington Devon | £240K | 5.6× | £789 | £2,657 | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 732 | Moor Park Hertfordshire | £1.3M | 17.2× | £1,826 | £2,381 | D |
Rent and Band D are for each town’s main council area; Northern Ireland has no council tax (its towns pay domestic rates) and no council-area rents; Scotland’s rents are published for broad areas, not councils. Cost letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; this order is context only.
Charmouth sells for £247K more than Axminster
Median sale, September 2023 to August 2026, for the built-up areas around Axminster, shaded against Axminster’s median. Five-year change where both years had 20+ sales.
Charmouth, 5.1 miles away, has the dearest homes nearby (£497,000).
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Sale prices aren’t valuations. A median is the middle sale, so a year with more flats or new builds moves it even if no home changed in value. The ONS House Price Index adjusts for the mix; it is published by council, not for Axminster’s built-up area.
- Rent is for the whole council. The ONS publishes private rents by council only, so the figure covers the whole East Devon council area, not just Axminster.
- Income is a mean. The grade divides costs by the ONS’s mean household income for the council area (£53,349), which a few high earners pull up; the median household’s is lower.
- The newest months are thin. Land Registry registers a sale weeks or months after completion, so the year to August 2026 will gain sales as registrations catch up.
Questions about living costs in Axminster
Is Axminster expensive to live in?
The median home in Axminster sold for £250,000 between September 2023 and August 2026, £27,000 less than the typical UK town. That is 4.7 times the area’s mean household income, cheaper for local incomes than in 70% of UK towns. The average private rent of £968 a month takes 22% of that income.
Are house prices falling in Axminster?
The median sale has been about £252,500 in each of the last three years to August, after peaking at £263,263 in the year to August 2023. Over five years prices went up 13%, and over ten went up 40%.
How much is rent in Axminster?
The ONS puts the average private rent in the East Devon council area at £968 a month in August 2026: £685 for one bedroom, £896 for two, £1,122 for three and £1,615 for four or more. Rents went up 6% over the year, against 4% across England.
How much is council tax in Axminster?
Band D is £2,669 for 2026–27, against England’s average of £2,392. Band A is £1,780 and Band C £2,373. Your bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
How much do I need to earn to buy in Axminster?
With a 10% deposit and borrowing of 4.5 times income, a household needs about £50,000 a year to buy the median Axminster home of £250,000, or about £25,100 for the median flat (£125,500).
Sources: HM Land Registry Price Paid (standard sales, September 2023 to August 2026) · HM Land Registry Price Paid, every standard sale since 1995 (years to August), by council ward and postcode district · ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026, by council) · ONS Price Index of Private Rents, monthly since January 2015 (councils, regions, England and Wales) · MHCLG and Welsh Government council tax, Band D 2026–27 (with parish precepts in England) · MHCLG Band D council tax by council, 1993–94 to 2026–27; Welsh Government council tax levels 2026–27 · ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023) · ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.