UK House Price Index: May 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, 17 July 2019) by HM Land Registry on the GOV.UK website.

The Office for Statistics Regulation designated the UK House Price Index 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 House Price Index (HPI) is a joint production by HM Land Registry, Land and Property Services Northern Ireland, the Office for National Statistics and Registers of Scotland.

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 1.2% in the year to May 2019, down from 1.5% in April 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 4.4% over the year to May 2019, down from a fall of 1.7% in April 2019 and the lowest annual rate in London since August 2009 when it was negative 7.0%.

The average UK house price was £229,000 in May 2019. This is £2,000 higher than the same period a year ago (May 2018) (Figure 2). On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in the UK increased by 0.1% between April 2019 and May 2019, compared with a rise of 0.4% in average prices during the same period a year earlier (April 2018 and May 2018). On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in the UK were unchanged (0.0%) between April 2019 and May 2019 (series available in data downloads).

House price growth in Wales increased by 3.0% in the year to May 2019, down from 5.3% in April 2019, with the average house price at £159,000. House prices in Scotland increased by 2.8% in the year to May 2019, up from 1.7% in the year to April 2019, with the average house price in Scotland now £153,000. The average house price in England increased by 1.0% over the year to May 2019, down from 1.3% in April 2019, with the average house price in England now £246,000. Northern Ireland house prices increased by 3.5% over the year to Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2019. Northern Ireland remains the cheapest UK country to purchase a property in, with the average house price at £135,000 (Figure 3).

The North West was the English region with the highest annual house price growth, with prices increasing by 3.4% in the year to May 2019 (Figure 4). This was followed by the West Midlands, with prices increasing by 2.7%.

The lowest annual growth was in London where prices fell by 4.4% over the year to May 2019, down from a fall of 1.7% in April 2019 and the lowest annual rate in London since August 2009 when it was negative 7.0%. This was followed by the North East, where prices fell by 0.7% over the year.

While London house prices fell over the year, the area remains the most expensive place to purchase a property at an average of £457,000, followed by the South East and the East of England, at £324,000 and £291,000 respectively. The North East continued to have the lowest average house price at £128,000 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 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