UK House Price Index: September 2019

• UK average house prices increased by 1.3% over the year to September 2019, unchanged from August 2019.

• Average house prices increased over the year in England to £251,000 (1.0%), Wales to £164,000 (2.6%), Scotland to £155,000 (2.4%) and Northern Ireland to £140,000 (4.0%).

• London experienced the lowest annual growth rate (negative 0.4%), followed by the East of England (negative 0.2%).

This is a high-level summary of the UK House Price Index (HPI). For full details, including commentary, historical data tables and analytical tools, please see the main publication of the HPI, published today (9:30am, 13 November 2019) by HM Land Registry on the GOV.UK website.

The Office for Statistics Regulation designated the UK House Price Index (HPI) as a National Statistic on 18 September 2018. A letter from the Director General for Regulation details the actions that were taken to meet the requirements as set out in the UK HPI assessment report.

House price inflation is the rate at which the prices of residential properties purchased in the UK rise and fall. The UK HPI is a joint production by HM Land Registry, Registers of Scotland, Land and Property Services Northern Ireland, and the Office for National Statistics.

The UK HPI includes all residential properties purchased for market value in the UK. However, as sales only appear in the UK HPI once the purchases have been registered, there can be a delay before transactions feed into the index. As such, caution is advised when interpreting price changes in the most recent periods as they can be revised. Further information is provided in our revision policy.

Average house prices in the UK increased by 1.3% in the year to September 2019, unchanged from August 2019 (Figure 1). Over the past three years, there has been a general slowdown in UK house price growth, driven mainly by a slowdown in the south and east of England.

The lowest annual growth was in London, where prices fell by 0.4% over the year to September 2019, followed by the East of England where prices fell by 0.2% over the year.

The average UK house price was £234,000 in September 2019, this is £3,000 higher than September 2018 (Figure 2). On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in the UK decreased by 0.2% between August 2019 and September 2019, compared with a fall of 0.2% in average prices during the same period a year earlier. On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in the UK increased by 0.2% between August 2019 and September 2019 (series available in data downloads).

House price growth in Wales increased by 2.6% in the year to September 2019, down from 5.0% in the year to August 2019, with the average house price at £164,000.

House prices in Scotland increased by 2.4% in the year to September 2019, up from 1.6% in the year to August 2019, with the average house price in Scotland now £155,000.

The average house price in England increased by 1.0% over the year to September 2019, up from 0.9% in the year to August 2019, with the average house price in England now £251,000.

Northern Ireland house prices increased by 4.0% over the year to Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2019. Northern Ireland remains the cheapest UK country to purchase a property in, with the average house price at £140,000 (Figure 3).

At a regional level, the North West was the English region with the highest annual house price growth, with prices increasing by 2.8% in the year to September 2019 (Figure 4). This was followed by Yorkshire and The Humber, increasing by 2.2%.

The lowest annual growth was in London, where prices fell by 0.4% over the year to September 2019, up from a fall of 1.0% in August 2019. The only other area that experienced negative annual growth was the East of England, where prices fell by 0.2% over the year.

While house prices in London continued to fall over the year, the area remains the most expensive place to purchase a property at an average of £475,000. The North East continued to have the lowest average house price at £133,000 and is the only English region yet to surpass its pre-economic downturn peak (Figure 5).

Data at the local authority level and other breakdowns can be found in the full House Price Index (HPI) release, available to download from HM Land Registry at GOV.UK.

Details of the methodology used to calculate the UK House Price Index (HPI) can be found on the guidance page of the main release published by HM Land Registry on GOV.UK.

The UK HPI quality and methodology guidance contains important information on:

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