UK House Price Index: June 2019

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 House Price Index, published today (9:30am, 14 August 2019) by HM Land Registry on the GOV.UK website.

The Office for Statistics Regulation designated the UK House Price Index (HPI) as National Statistics 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 0.9% in the year to June 2019, unchanged from May 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 2.7% over the year to June 2019, less than the 3.1% fall in May 2019. Average house prices in London have now been falling over the year each month since March 2018.

The average UK house price was £230,000 in June 2019. This is £2,000 higher than the same period a year ago (June 2018) (Figure 2). On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in the UK increased by 0.7% between May 2019 and June 2019, compared with a rise of 0.7% in average prices during the same period a year earlier (May 2018 and June 2018). On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in the UK increased by 0.1% between May 2019 and June 2019 (series available in data downloads).

House price growth in Wales increased by 4.4% in the year to June 2019, down from 4.6% in May 2019, with the average house price at £164,000. House prices in Scotland increased by 1.3% in the year to June 2019, down from 1.5% in the year to May 2019, with the average house price in Scotland now £152,000. The average house price in England increased by 0.7% over the year to June 2019, remaining the same from May 2019 (0.7%) with the average house price in England now £247,000. Northern Ireland house prices increased by 3.5% over the year to Quarter 2 (April to June) 2019. Northern Ireland remains the cheapest UK country to purchase a property in, with the average house price at £137,000 (Figure 3).

The East Midlands was the English region with the highest annual house price growth, with prices increasing by 3.2% in the year to June 2019 (Figure 4). This was followed by the West Midlands, with prices increasing by 2.6%. The lowest annual growth was in London where prices fell by 2.7% over the year to June 2019, up from a fall of 3.1% in May 2019. This was followed by the South East, where prices fell by 0.6% over the year.

Average house prices in London have now been falling over the year each month since March 2018, a period of 16 months (Figure 5). This compares to 15 months of prices falling over the year in London during 2008 and 2009, the period of the economic downturn.

However, in context, from their recent peak and trough of £489,000 in July 2017 and £467,000 in June 2019, average London house prices have fallen 5.1%. This compares with a fall of 17.8% between a peak of £299,000 in January 2008 and a trough of £245,000 in April 2009.

While London house prices continue to fall over the year, the area remains the most expensive place to purchase a property at an average of £467,000, followed by the South East and the East of England, at £323,000 and £291,000 respectively. The North East continued to have the lowest average house price at £130,000 and is the only English region yet to surpass its pre-economic downturn peak (Figure 6).

Data at the local authority level and other breakdowns can be found in the main publication of the UK House Price Index published by HM Land Registry on GOV.UK.

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

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

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