UK House Price Index: July 2016

Monthly house price inflation in the UK, calculated using data from HM Land Registry, Registers of Scotland and Land and Property Services Northern Ireland.

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Contact:
Email Rhys Lewis

Release date:
13 September 2016

Next release:
18 October 2016

1. Introduction

This is a high-level summary of the UK House Price Index (HPI), which replaces the previous house price indices separately published by the Land Registry and the Office for National Statistics. For full details, including commentary, historical data tables and analytical tools please see the main publication of the new House Price Index, published today on the GOV.UK website.

The UK HPI is a joint production by Land Registry, Land and Property Services Northern Ireland, Office for National Statistics and Registers of Scotland.

The reporting period for this release covers the calendar month of July 2016. Therefore, the data refers to the period after the EU referendum.

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2. UK all dwellings

Average house prices in the UK have increased by 8.3% in the year to July 2016 (down from 9.7% in the year to June 2016), continuing the strong growth seen since the end of 2013.

The average UK house price was £217,000 in July 2016. This is £17,000 higher than in July 2015 and £1,000 higher than last month.

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3. House price index, by UK country

The main contribution to the increase in UK house prices came from England, where house prices increased by 9.1% over the year to July 2016, with the average price in England now £233,000. Wales saw house prices increase by 4.0% over the last 12 months to stand at £145,000. In Scotland, the average price increased by 3.4% over the year to stand at £144,000. The average price in Northern Ireland is currently £123,000.

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4. House price index, by English region

On a regional basis, London continues to be the region with the highest average house price at £485,000, followed by the South East and the East of England, which stand at £313,000 and £274,000 respectively. The lowest average price continues to be in the North East at £130,000.

The East of England is the region which showed the highest annual growth, with prices increasing by 13.2% in the year to July 2016. Growth in London remains high at 12.3%, followed by the South East with an 11.9% annual growth. The lowest annual growth was in the Yorkshire and The Humber, where prices increased by 4.7% over the year.

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5. House price index, by UK local authority district

The local authority showing the largest annual growth in the year to July 2016 was Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles of Scotland), where prices increased by 31.5% to stand at £115,000. The lowest annual growth was recorded in the City of Aberdeen, where prices fell by 6.9% to stand at £179,000.

Movements at the local authority district level can be quite volatile due to the low number of transactions in some geographies.

In July 2016, the most expensive borough to live in was Kensington and Chelsea, where the cost of an average house was £1.3 million. In contrast, the cheapest area to purchase a property was Burnley, where an average house cost £75,000.

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.Background information

We are looking to gather user feedback on the UK House Price Index. For this, we would appreciate you taking the time to complete our survey, which will take a couple of minutes.

The UK House Price Index has been published initially as an experimental official statistic to allow for users to acclimatise to the format of the new HPI, to evaluate user reaction to the new data, to continue evolution of data publication to meet user requirements and to further develop the data sources used in the production. While the methodology for the new UK HPI has been finalised, further work is taking place to secure additional property attributes data (such as from Scottish Assessors) that will supplement and provide additional assurance to the future production process.

It is expected that we will seek to remove the experimental status at the end of 2016, once the above points have been implemented and then progress with the assessment of the new UK HPI as a National Statistic.

Please note that the Northern Ireland Residential Property Price Index, used as a component source in the production of the new UK HPI remains an official statistic (that is, it is not classified as experimental).

Further information on how the new UK HPI compares to the previous ONS and Land Registry House Price Indices can be found in the article Explaining the impact of the new UK HPI.

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Contact details for this Statistical bulletin

Rhys Lewis
hpi@ons.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)1633 456400