That is the middle of 1,185 standard sales recorded by HM Land Registry from September 2023 to August 2026, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. The typical home sells for 5.2 times as much as in 1995. Below: what each type of home sells for, the spread of prices, every year since 1995, new builds, the busiest streets and the neighbours. Rents and council tax are on Cost of living.
1,185 homes sold in three years: 216 detached houses, 186 semi-detached houses, 397 terraced houses and 386 flats and maisonettes. A detached house sells for 2.6 times what a flat does.
Detached houses£511K
median sale · 216 sold in 3 years
Middle half
£400K–£650K
Last 12 months
£525K51 sold
New build
£908K
Semi-detached houses£357K
median sale · 186 sold in 3 years
Middle half
£320K–£440K
Last 12 months
£365K50 sold
New build
£635K
Terraced houses£310K
median sale · 397 sold in 3 years
Middle half
£265K–£440K
Last 12 months
£295K111 sold
New build
£525K
Flats and maisonettes£198K
median sale · 386 sold in 3 years
Middle half
£145K–£285K
Last 12 months
£184K113 sold
New build
£275K
The mix
A mixed market: no one type makes up more than 34% of sales
Detached houses18%
Semi-detached houses16%
Terraced houses34%
Flats and maisonettes33%
Standard sales, Sep 2023 to Aug 2026. A median needs 5 sales of a type; “middle half” is the 25th to 75th percentile of 10 or more.
Price range
Half of Dorchester’s homes sold for between £235K and £448K
One sale in ten was under £151K and one in ten over £605K. 29% sold for under £250K.
Sales by price · Sep 2023 to Aug 2026
The median, £322,000, sits in the £300–400K band
1,185 standard sales. Each bar is the number sold in that price band; the darker bar holds the median.
Since 1995
The typical home costs 5.2 times as much as in 1995, in step with England
Land Registry has recorded every sale since 1995. The median went from £57,000 in 1995 to £295,000 in the last 12 months (£275,000 in 2019).
31 years of sales
Fewer homes sell than in most years
325 sales in the last 12 months, against 602 in 2002, the busiest year, and 329 in 2008. Sales fell by 28% from 2007 to 2009 in the financial crisis, and the median by 17%. 2021, the stamp duty holiday, saw 58% more sales than 2020.
Homes soldMedian sale price
Against England
Dorchester costs more than England as a whole
Median sale price each calendar year: Dorchester, every standard sale in England, and the typical UK town (the middle of the town medians, towns of 2,500 or more).
By type
Semi-detached houses rose the most since 1995
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
2020
Last 12 months
Detached houses
£86K
£153K
£300K
£355K
£360K
£480K
£525K
Semi-detached houses
£60K
£115K
£238K
£225K
£280K
£325K
£365K
Terraced houses
£49K
£85K
£180K
£205K
£235K
£310K
£295K
Flats and maisonettes
£42K
£55K
£145K
£148K
£170K
£220K
£184K
Calendar years; a year’s median needs 5 sales of the type, so gaps are years with fewer.
Prices are as paid, not adjusted for inflation. Standard (category A) sales only; Land Registry adds a sale when it is registered, so the newest months fill in later.
New builds
New builds have slowed: 2% of sales in the last 12 months, after 35% in 2016
2,488 new homes have been sold in Dorchester since 1995; the share peaked at 35% in 2016.
New-build share of sales
Calendar years with 10 or more sales, then the last 12 months.
New builds and tenure · 3 years
A new home sold for a median £578,000
against £311,250 for a home sold on, 86% more, over three years. New homes are often a different mix from the homes sold on, so part of the gap is size and type.
33% of sales were leasehold
Nearly every flat in England and Wales is leasehold; among houses, 2.1% sold leasehold in Dorchester. A leasehold buyer owns the home for a fixed term and may pay ground rent and service charges; check the lease before you buy.
Streets
South Walks Road is Dorchester’s busiest street, with 29 sales in three years
76 streets had five or more sales from Sep 2023 to Aug 2026, 29 of them ten or more. A busy street is often a new estate selling its first homes, or a long road of terraces and flats.
#
Street
Postcode area
Sales
Median
Homes
1
South Walks Road
DT1
29
£155,000
Mostly flats
2
Crown Square
DT1
25
£280,000
Mostly flats · new builds
3
High West Street
DT1
24
£172,500
Mostly flats
4
London Road
DT1
19
£249,995
Mostly flats
5
Monmouth Road
DT1
18
£410,000
Mixed
6
High Street
DT1
17
£243,000
Mixed
7
Bowes Lyon Place
DT1
15
£245,000
Mostly flats
8
Peninsula Way
DT1
14
£915,000
Mostly detached houses · new builds
9
Casterbridge Road
DT1
13
£440,000
Mostly detached houses
10
Fourgates Road
DT1
13
£300,100
Mixed
11
Princes Street
DT1
13
£290,000
Mixed
12
Wessex Road
DT1
13
£185,000
Mostly flats
13
Halstock Street
DT1
12
£517,500
Mostly terraced houses · new builds
14
Weatherbury Way
DT1
12
£412,500
Mixed
15
Louise Road
DT1
12
£311,250
Mixed
Dearest streets
Pavilion Green: £955,000
Dorchester median£322K
Pavilion Green£955K
Peninsula Way£915K
Coade Lane£700K
Abbey Place£673K
Manor Road£650K
Cheapest streets
Billingsmoor Lane: £92,150
Dorchester median£322K
Billingsmoor Lane£92K
Culliford Road North£128K
Queen Mother Square£136K
South Walks Road£155K
High East Street£160K
Among streets with five or more sales; the dearest street’s median is 10.4 times the cheapest’s. Street medians mix types: a street of detached houses beats one of flats.
Standard sales with a street name, grouped by street and postcode district (Sep 2023 to Aug 2026); a name used in two districts shows the district. Medians only: we don’t list individual sales.
Across Dorset
Dorchester is the 21st most expensive of 32 towns in Dorset
Dorchester is in the middle of Dorset’s towns to buy in; the typical UK town’s median is £277,000.
Median: standard sales over three years (10+ needed). Since 2016: the median over three years against 2016’s. Miles: centre to centre.
Questions about property prices in Dorchester
What is the average house price in Dorchester?
The median home in Dorchester sold for £322,000 from September 2023 to August 2026, across 1,185 standard sales (£295,000 in the last 12 months). By type: detached houses £511,250, semi-detached houses £356,500, terraced houses £310,000 and flats and maisonettes £197,500.
Are house prices going up in Dorchester?
The median was £330,000 in 2025, about the same on 2024 (£325,000), and £295,000 in the last 12 months. A town’s median moves with the mix of homes sold each year as well as with prices.
How many homes sell in Dorchester each year?
325 standard sales were recorded in the last 12 months, against an average of 479 a year since 2015. Repossessions, company purchases and other non-standard sales aren’t counted.
What are the most expensive streets in Dorchester?
Among streets with five or more sales in three years: Pavilion Green (DT1, £955,000), Peninsula Way (DT1, £915,000) and Coade Lane (DT1, £699,950).
How much does a new build cost in Dorchester?
New homes sold for a median £578,000 over three years, against £311,250 for homes sold on. New builds were 8.4% of sales.
Is Dorchester expensive for Dorset?
Dorchester is the 21st most expensive of 32 towns of 2,500 or more in Dorset by median sale price.
Sources: HM Land Registry Price Paid, every standard sale since January 1995 (yearly files of 28 September 2026), inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary by postcode (ONS Postcode Directory) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Photo: Ian Greig · CC BY-SA 2.0