Cambridge Property Market: House Prices, Sold Data & Development Finance, Q3 2026 Review

Cambridge: World-class university city with severe undersupply, biotech-driven demand, and premium residential values.

The Cambridge property market recorded 1,429 residential sales in the 12 months to 30 June 2026, with a median sale price of £480,000. This places Cambridge £170k above the Cambridgeshire county median of £310,500, and £195k above the approximate UK median of £285,000.

Prices in Cambridge have recorded a moderate decline, a year-on-year change of -2%. Within Cambridgeshire, Cambridge ranks 1st by price out of 8 principal towns, and 3rd by transaction volume.

On a quarterly view, Cambridge median prices moved from £490,000 in Q1 2025 to £440,000 in Q2 2026, a change of -10.2% over 5 quarters. Cambridge has now recorded 3 consecutive quarters of price falls.

The local planning authority for Cambridge approved 17 residential planning applications and refused 4 in Q3 2026 (1 July to 30 September 2026), with 36 still awaiting a decision. That is an approval rate of 81%. Planning figures come from local planning authority records compiled by Landstack, retrieved on 3 October 2026. Councils and Landstack can take several days to publish decisions, so decisions made in the final days of Q3 2026 may not all be included yet.

Schemes approved in Q3 2026, together with those still awaiting a decision, propose around 774 homes, an estimated £371.8m of development value at local sale prices. Treat the unit total as an upper bound, since an outline permission and its reserved-matters application both count.

Property prices in Cambridge vary significantly by type. The table below compares Cambridge prices with Cambridgeshire county averages and UK national figures.

Detached homes in Cambridge command £818,000, while flat properties are most accessible at £325,000. The £493k spread between the most and least expensive types indicates a diverse market with opportunities across the development spectrum.

HM Land Registry has so far registered 53 new-build sales in Cambridge for the past 12 months, 3.7% of registered transactions. New-build sales are typically registered 6 to 18 months after completion, so this understates current delivery and is not a completions figure.

On those registered sales, new builds in Cambridge sold at a premium of 17.1% to existing stock.

Across the wider Cambridgeshire market, 445 new-build sales have registered so far. See our Cambridgeshire property market report for the full county picture.

The table below shows the most recently registered residential sales in Cambridge, evidence of achieved prices for buyers, sellers and developers:

These transactions are sourced from HM Land Registry Price Paid data and represent completed, registered sales. The range from £315,000 to £995,000 illustrates the breadth of the Cambridge market.

For developers considering Cambridge, the local market data translates directly into finance structuring. With a median value of £480,000 and detached homes at £818,000, lenders can assess scheme viability with confidence.

A typical development finance facility for a scheme in Cambridge with a GDV of £818,000 would attract senior debt of approximately £531,700 at 65% LTGDV. Mezzanine finance can stretch total borrowing to 85-90% of costs, while bridging loans enable rapid site acquisitions completing in as little as 5 working days.

While prices have softened 2% year-on-year, experienced developers can still generate strong returns in Cambridge by targeting well-located sites with clear demand drivers.

Ready to develop in Cambridge? Submit your scheme for indicative terms within 24 hours from our panel of 100+ lenders.

To put Cambridge's market in context, the table below compares it with similarly-priced towns across Cambridgeshire:

For the full Cambridgeshire town-by-town breakdown, see our comprehensive Cambridgeshire property market report.