UK House Price Index: September 2016

This is a high-level summary of the UK House Price Index (HPI), which replaces the previous house price indices separately published by the Land Registry and the Office for National Statistics. For full details, including commentary, historical data tables and analytical tools please see the main publication of the new House Price Index, published today on the GOV.UK website.

The UK HPI is a joint production by Land Registry, Land and Property Services Northern Ireland, Office for National Statistics and Registers of Scotland.

Average house prices in the UK have increased by 7.7% in the year to September 2016 (unchanged from 7.7% in the year to August 2016), continuing the strong growth seen since the end of 2013.

The average UK house price was £218,000 in September 2016. This is £16,000 higher than in September 2015 and unchanged from last month.

The main contribution to the increase in UK house prices came from England, where house prices increased by 8.3% over the year to September 2016, with the average price in England now £234,000. Wales saw house prices increase by 4.4% over the last 12 months to stand at £146,000. In Scotland, the average price increased by 3.4% over the year to stand at £143,000. The average price in Northern Ireland increased by 5.4% over the year and currently stands at £124,000.

On a regional basis, London continues to be the region with the highest average house price at £488,000, followed by the South East and the East of England, which stand at £313,000 and £277,000 respectively. The lowest average price continues to be in the North East at £125,000.

The East of England is the region which showed the highest annual growth, with prices increasing by 12.1% in the year to September 2016. Growth in London was second highest at 10.9%, followed by the South East at 9.9%. The lowest annual growth was in the North East, where prices increased by 1.5% over the year.

The local authority showing the largest annual growth in the year to September 2016 was the Orkney Islands, where prices increased by 20.6% to stand at £144,000. Low number of sales transactions in some local authorities, such as the Orkney Islands, can lead to volatility in the series. The lowest annual growth was recorded in the City of Aberdeen, where prices fell by 10.3% to stand at £172,000.

In September 2016, the most expensive borough to live in was Kensington and Chelsea, where the cost of an average house was £1.4 million. In contrast, the cheapest area to purchase a property was Blaenau Gwent, where an average house cost £76,000.

The UK House Price Index (HPI) Quality and Methodology Information document contains important information on:

• the strengths and limitations of the data
• the quality of the output: including the accuracy of the data, how it compares with related data
• uses and users
• how the output was created.