The average house price in England started to increase in the first half of 2024, after falling by over three percent year-on-year in December 2023. In June 2024, the house price index amounted to 149.7 index points, suggesting an increase in house prices of 2.4 percent since the same month in 2023 and a roughly 50 percent rise since 2015 - the baseline year for the index. Among the different regions in the UK, West and East Midlands experienced the strongest growth.

After soaring for three years, house price in England declined in 2023. In London, the most expensive regional market, the average house price fell to 508,000 British pounds in December 2023, down from 529,000 British pounds a year ago. According to the UK regional house price index, the North West saw the highest price increase since 2015.

According to the forecast, the North East and Wales are the regions in the United Kingdom estimated to see the highest overall growth in house prices over the five-year period between 2024 and 2028. Just behind are North West, Yorkshire & the Humber, and Scotland, which are forecast to see house prices increase by **** percent over the five-year period. In London, house prices are expected to rise by **** percent.

Renters in the UK spent on average 32.5 percent of their income on rent as of January 2025. Scotland and Yorkshire and Humber were the most affordable regions, with households spending less than 28 percent of their gross income on rent. Conversely, London, South West, and South East had a higher ratio. Greater London is the most expensive region for renters Greater London has a considerably higher rent than the rest of the UK regions. In 2024, the average rental cost in Greater London was more than twice higher than in the North West or West Midlands. Compared with Greater London, rent in the South East region was about 600 British pounds cheaper. London property prices continue to increase In recent years, house prices in the UK have been steadily increasing, and the period after the COVID-19 pandemic has been no exception. Prime residential property prices in Central London are forecast to continue rising until 2027. A similar trend in prime property prices is also expected in Outer London.

The average agreed rent for new tenancies in the UK ranged from *** British pounds to ***** British pounds, depending on the region. On average, renters outside of London paid ***** British pounds, whereas in London, this figure amounted to ***** British pounds. Rents have been on the rise for many years, but the period after the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this trend. Since 2015, the average rent in the UK increased by about ** percent, with about half of that gain achieved in the period after the pandemic. Why have UK rents increased so much? One of the main reasons driving up rental prices is the declining affordability of homeownership. Historically, house prices grew faster than rents, making renting more financially feasible than buying. In 2022, when the house price to rent ratio index peaked, house prices had outgrown rents by nearly ** percent since 2015. As house prices peaked in 2022, home buying slowed, exacerbating demand for rental properties and leading to soaring rental prices. How expensive is too expensive? Although there is no official requirement about the proportion of income spent on rent for it to be considered affordable, a popular rule is that rent should not exceed more than ** percent of income. In 2024, most renters in the UK exceeded that threshold, with the southern regions significantly more likely to spend upward of ** percent of their income on rent. Rental affordability has sparked a move away from the capital to other regions in the UK, such as the South East (Brighton and Southampton), the West Midlands (Birmingham) and the North West (Liverpool, Manchester, Blackpool and Preston).