UK House Price Index: November 2018

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, 16 January 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, Office for National Statistics and Registers of Scotland.

The UK HPI, introduced in June 2016, 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 2.8% in the year to November 2018, up slightly from 2.7% in October 2018 (Figure 1). Over the past two years, there has been a 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 0.7% over the year to November 2018, unchanged from October 2018.

The average UK house price was £231,000 in November 2018. This is £7,000 higher than in November 2017 (Figure 2). On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in the UK fell by 0.1% between October 2018 and November 2018, compared with a decrease of 0.3% in average prices during the same period a year earlier (October 2017 and November 2017). On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in the UK increased by 0.1% between October 2018 and November 2018 (series available in data downloads).

House prices in England grew slower than other countries of the UK, increasing by 2.6% in the year to November 2018, up from 2.3% in the year to October 2018, with the average price in England now £247,000. House prices in Wales increased by 5.5% over the last 12 months to reach £161,000. In Scotland, the average price increased by 2.9% over the year to stand at £151,000. The average house price in Northern Ireland currently stands at £135,000, an increase of 4.8% over the year to Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2018 (Figure 3).

At an English regional level, the West Midlands showed the highest annual growth, with prices increasing by 4.6% in the year to November 2018. This was followed by the East Midlands (4.4%).

The English region with the slowest annual growth was in London, where prices fell by 0.7% over the year (Figure 4). London house prices have fallen over the year each month since July 2018. The Bank of England November inflation report highlights that the slowdown in the London market since mid-2016 is probably due to the area being disproportionately affected by regulatory and tax changes, and also by lower net migration from the EU.

While London house prices are falling over the year, the area remains the most expensive place to purchase a property at an average of £473,000, followed by the South East and the East of England, at £324,000 and £295,000 respectively. The North East continues to have the lowest average price at £132,000 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