During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of house sales in the UK spiked, followed by a period of decline. In 2023, the housing market slowed notably, and in September 2024, transaction volumes fell below 50,000. House sales volumes are affected by a number of factors, including mortgage rates, house prices, supply, demand, as well as the overall health of the market. The economic uncertainty and rising unemployment rates has also affected the homebuyer sentiment of Brits. How have UK house prices developed over the past 10 years? House prices in the UK have increased year-on-year since 2015, except for a brief period of decline in the second half of 2023 and the beginning of 2024. That is based on the 12-month percentage change of the UK house price index. At the peak of the housing boom in 2022, prices soared by nearly 14 percent. The decline that followed was mild, at under three percent. The cooling in the market was more pronounced in England and Wales, where the average house price declined in 2023. Conversely, growth in Scotland and Northern Ireland continued. What is the impact of mortgage rates on house sales? For a long period, mortgage rates were at record-low, allowing prospective homebuyers to take out a 10-year loan at a mortgage rate of less than three percent. In the last quarter of 2021, this period came to an end as the Bank of England rose the bank lending rate to contain the spike in inflation. Naturally, the higher borrowing costs affected consumer sentiment, urging many homebuyers to place their plans on hold and leading to a drop in sales.

In 2022, house price growth in the UK slowed, after a period of decade-long increase. Nevertheless, in August 2024, prices reached a new peak, with the average home costing close to 290,000 British pounds. That figure refers to all property types, including detached, semi-detached, terraced houses, and flats and maisonettes. Compared to other European countries, the UK had some of the highest house prices. How have UK house prices increased over the last 10 years? Property prices have risen dramatically over the past decade. According to the UK house price index, the average house price has grown by over 50 percent since 2015. This price development has led to the gap between the cost of buying and renting a property to close. In 2023, buying a three-bedroom house in the UK was no longer more affordable than renting one. Consequently, Brits have become more likely to rent longer and push off making a house purchase until they have saved up enough for a down payment and achieved the financial stability required to make the step. What caused the decline in house prices in 2022? House prices are affected by multiple factors, such as mortgage rates, supply, and demand on the market. For nearly a decade, the UK experienced uninterrupted house price growth as a result of strong demand and a chronic undersupply. Homebuyers who purchased a property at the peak of the housing boom in July 2022 paid 14 percent more compared to what they would have paid a year before. Additionally, 2022 saw the most dramatic increase in mortgage rates in recent history. Between December 2021 and December 2022, the 10-year fixed mortgage rate doubled, adding further strain to prospective homebuyers. As a result, the market cooled, leading to a correction in pricing.

The UK regions that observed the highest house price growth as of June 2024 were North Ireland and North West, where the HPI measured over 160 index points. The house price index (HPI) is an easy way of illustrating trends in the house sales market. By using hedonic regression, the index models property price data for all dwellings and shows how much the price has changed since January 2015. An index value of 160 index points indicates a price increase of 60 percent since 2015.

Data relating to the price of houses sold in the Glasgow Area from the years 1991 - 2013.Some elements of the dataset are derived from information produced by Registers of ScotlandCLASS Administrative Classification onlySTNO Street NumberSTnu Street NumberFLATPOSN Flat PositionSTNAME Street NamePOSTCODE Post CodeMONTH OF SALE Month of SaleYEAR OF SALE (CALENDAR) YEAR OF SALE (CALENDAR)YEAR OF SALE (BUSINESS) YEAR OF SALE (BUSINESS)MONTH AND YEAR MONTH AND YEARQUARTER_(CALENDAR) QUARTER_(CALENDAR)ACTUAL PRICE AT POINT OF SALE Actual Price RPI Retail Price Index - Published every month and available for the last 20 yearsDEFLATOR Figure used to to determine change in house prices over time - calculated fromthe Retail Price Index and other dataPRICE CONSTANT AT July 2013 Actual Price multiplied by the Deflator. This is the price if RPI is applied to original sale price - How much would the property be valued at now. ORIGINOFBUY Council area or Country where the buyer comes fromOMIT OR USE Oroginal data also included retail and commercial data. - Not reproduced hereNEWBUILD OR RESALE Is it a newbuild house or a resaleLHF Local Housing Forum Area

House prices in the UK rose dramatically during the coronavirus pandemic, with growth slowing down in 2022 and turning negative in 2023. The year-on-year annual house price change peaked at 14 percent in July 2022. In June 2024, house prices increased by 2.7 percent. According to the Nationwide Building Society, the average house price exceeded 265,000 British pounds in 2022. Correction in housing prices: a European phenomenon The trend of a growing residential real estate market was not exclusive to the UK during the pandemic. Likewise, many European countries experienced falling prices in 2023. When comparing residential property RHPI (price index in real terms, e.g. corrected for inflation), countries such as Germany, France, Italy, and Spain also saw prices decline. Sweden, one of the countries with the fastest growing residential markets, saw one of the largest declines in prices. How has demand for UK housing changed since the outbreak of the coronavirus? The easing of the lockdown was followed by a dramatic increase in home sales. In November 2020, the number of mortgage approvals reached an all-time high of over 107,000. One of the reasons for the housing boom were the low mortgage rates, allowing home buyers to take out a loan with an interest rate as low as 2.5 percent. That changed as the Bank of England started to raise the base lending rate, resulting in higher borrowing costs and a decline in homebuyer sentiment.

Average annual and quarterly house prices based on Land Registry data, by borough.

Lower and Upper quartile prices are included in the table. Quarterly Lower Quartile data is taken from DCLG Table 583 up to Q3 2011. All other data is from Land Registry.
Excluded from the above figures are sales at less than market price (e.g. Right To Buy), sales below £1,000 and sales above £20m.
The "median" property price is determined by ranking all property prices in ascending order.
The median is the mid-point of this ranking with 50 per cent of prices below the median and 50 per cent above
The figures for the latest quarter are provisional and figures for all other quarters have been revised.

Data from CLG Table numbers: 581, 582, 585 and 586.

From the 1st of November 2012 DCLG no longer publishes this data at regional level.

Now also includes monthly data from the Land Registry.

Also available are Average house prices for London, by borough, ward, LSOA and MSOA, based on GLA calculations of Land Registry price paid datasets.

Price Paid Datasets

The full land registry price paid datasets are available to download here. This shows details of each house sale since 1995 in England and Wales. The files are broken down into smaller chunks to make it possible to open in Excel2010.

The England and Wales files contain the following fields:

unique_id
price
date
Post code
Property type
Whether newbuild
Freehold
Address1
Town

Local_authority
County
Record_status
Year
Month
Quarter
Region
Country

The London files contain the following fields:

id (London)
transaction_id
Price
Date_processed
Quarter
Month
Year
Year_month
Post_code
Property_type
Whether_new
Tenure
Address1
Address2
Address3
Address4
Town
Local_authority
County
Record_status
Post_code_clean
Inner_outer
Borough_code
Borough_name
Ward_code
Ward_name
MSOA11
LSOA11
OA11

Download (Beware: large file sizes):

England and Wales 1995-2013 (Zip) 911MB

London 1995-2013 (Zip) 190MB

NB Files correct to end of March 2014.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/house-price-index-background-tables

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-housing-market-and-house-prices

The average house price in the increased by 2.7 percent year-on-year in June 2024, according to the monthly house price index. The index is calculated using data on housing transactions and measures the development of house prices, with 2015 chosen as a base year when the index value was set to 100. In June 2024, the index reached 151 index points, meaning that house prices have grown by over 51 percent since 2015. The house price index is an important measure for the residential real estate market. It is used to show changes in the value of residential properties in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This upwards trend in house price index, and therefore the value of residential properties, has also been observed by other measurers of house price index in the United Kingdom.

Median price paid for residential property in England and Wales, for all property types by lower layer super output area. Annual data..

England accounts for the majority of sales in the residential real estate market in the United Kingdom. In September 2024, the total number of housing transactions in the country amounted to nearly 92,000, with approximately 80,000 of these property sales being completed in England. Historically, sales activity has observed notable fluctuations because of the seasonal nature of the market, but also other trends in the market, such as the slump in April 2020 related to the COVID-19 pandemic A declining number of home sales The annual number of home sales in the UK has declined since 2021, with 2023 exhibiting the lowest transaction volume since 2012. The main reason for that trend is the increase in the cost of housing. House prices grew year-on-year between 2012 and 2022, with growth accelerating toward the end of the period due to the record-low mortgage rates. As the cost of living crisis hit in 2022, the Bank of England hiked interest rates, resulting in dramatically higher home finance costs. With house prices at their peak and a double increase in borrowing costs, many prospective homebuyers could not afford to buy and placed their plans on hold. How will prices develop in the next five years? After a slight decline in 2024, house prices in the UK are expected to pick up in the next year and continue on an upward trend until 2028. On average, house prices are projected to grow by 2.7 percent per year.

Number of properties sold from Land Registry data.

Excluded from the above figures are sales at less than market price (e.g. Right To Buy), sales below £1,000 and sales above £20m.

Relevant link: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/regional-analysis/house-price-statistics-for-small-areas/index.html

Summary statistics for housing transactions by local authority in England and Wales, on an annual basis, updated quarterly using HM Land Registry Price Paid Data. Select values from the Year and Month dimensions for data for a 12-month period ending that month and year (e.g. selecting June and 2018 will return the twelve months to June 2018).

this dataset shows the average price of houses and their year % change for April2011 to April2012. Data is displayed at the Euro region for England and Wales. Dat was sourced from the land registry (http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/public/house-prices-and-sales) and combined with data released under the OS Open data agreement. GIS vector data. This dataset was first accessioned in the EDINA ShareGeo Open repository on 2012-06-29 and migrated to Edinburgh DataShare on 2017-02-21.

Additional data from the HPSSAs on the number and percentage of property sales of £1 million or more in England and Wales, by country, English region and local authorities

The UK housing market continued to show significant regional variations in 2024, with London maintaining its position as the most expensive city for homebuyers. The average house price in the capital stood at 519,579 British pounds in October, nearly double the national average of 292,059 British pounds. However, the market dynamics are shifting, with London experiencing only a modest 0.2 percent annual increase, while other cities like Newcastle upon Tyne and Belfast saw more substantial growth of 8.8 percent and 6.8 percent respectively. Affordability challenges and market slowdown Despite the continued price growth in many cities, the UK housing market is facing headwinds. The affordability of mortgage repayments has become the biggest barrier to property purchases, with the majority of the respondents in a recent survey citing it as their main challenge. Moreover, a rising share of Brits have reported affordability as a challenge since 2021, reflecting the impact of rising house prices and higher mortgage rates. The market slowdown is evident in the declining housing transaction volumes, which have plummeted since 2021. European context The stark price differences are mirrored in the broader European context. While London boasts some of the highest property prices among European cities, a comparison of the average transaction price for new homes in different European countries shows a different picture. In 2023, the highest prices were found in Austria, Germany, and France.