Press release

UK House Price Index (HPI) for April 2016

Today, we released the new UK House Price Index, showing house price changes for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

UK HPI map

The April data shows an annual price increase of 8.2% which takes the average property value in the UK to £209,054. Monthly house prices rose by 0.6% since March 2016. The monthly index figure for the UK was 109.6.

In England, the April data shows an annual price increase of 9.1% which takes the average property value to £224,731. Monthly house prices rose by 0.7% since March 2016.

Wales shows an annual price increase of 1.7% which takes the average property value to £139,385. Monthly house prices fell by 1.9% since March 2016.

London shows an annual price increase of 14.5% which takes the average property value to £470,025. Monthly house prices rose by 0.6% since March 2016.

The regional data indicates that:

  • London experienced the greatest increase in its average property value over the last 12 months with a movement of 14.5%
  • the North West experienced the greatest monthly growth with an increase of 2.3%
  • the North East saw the lowest annual price growth with an increase of 0.1%
  • the South West saw the most significant monthly price fall with a movement of -2.8%

The number of UK home sales continued to grow in the three months to April 2016 (Feb-Apr): rising by 8.3% relative to the preceding three months (Nov-Jan), although sales fell by 45.2% in April 2016 compared with March 2016. See the economic statement.

Sales during February 2016, show that:

  • the number of completed house sales in England increased by 1.1%to 56,884 compared with 56,261 in February 2015

  • the number of completed house sales in Wales increased by 4.1% to 2,796 compared with 2,686 in February 2015

  • the number of completed house sales in London fell by 10.5% to 6,926 compared with 7,740 in February 2015.

Access the full April UK HPI report.

England by region Monthly change since March 2016 Annual change since April 2015 Average price April 2016
East 1.2% 13.6% £263,420
East Midlands 1.6% 7.8% £167,762
London 0.6% 14.5% £470,025
North East -0.9% 0.1% £121,719
North West 2.3% 5.8% £145,149
South East 0.3% 12.3% £301,689
South West -2.8% 6.0% £227,404
West Midlands 2.2% 7.1% £173,321
Yorkshire and The Humber 1.6% 6.0% £146,712
Average price by property type (England) April 2016 April 2015 Difference
Detached £332,968 £310,361 7.3%
Semi-detached £209,075 £190,529 9.7%
Terraced £183,666 £167,023 10.0%
Flat/maisonette £210,281 £192,450 9.3%
All £224,731 £205,936 9.1%
Wales Monthly change since March 2016 Annual change since April 2015 Average price April 2016
Wales -1.9% 1.7% £139,385
Average price by property type (Wales) April 2016 April 2015 Difference
Detached £207,034 £206,244 0.4%
Semi-detached £135,193 £130,863 3.3%
Terraced £108,873 £106,913 1.8%
Flat/maisonette £99,265 £98,838 0.4%
All £139,385 £137,039 1.7%
Average price by property type (London) April 2016 April 2015 Difference
Detached £854,209 £759,614 12%
Semi-detached £560,152 £480,438 17%
Terraced £491,996 £419,154 17%
Flat/maisonette £413,963 £367,469 13%
All £470,025 £410,445 14.5%
Month Sales 2016 England Sales 2015 England Difference
January 53,095 55,110 -3.7%
February 56,884 56,261 1.1%
Month Sales 2016 Wales Sales 2015 Wales Difference
January 2,472 2,676 -7.6%
February 2,796 2,686 4.1%
Month Sales 2016 London Sales 2015 London Difference
January 6,845 7,958 -14%
February 6,926 7,740 -10.5%
England Monthly change Annual change Average price
Cash 0.1% 8.1% £210,602
Mortgage 1.0% 9.6% £231,866
First time buyer 0.9% 9.3% £189,179
Former owner occupier 0.5% 9.0% £254,409
New build 4.9% 11.2% £275,487
Existing resold property 0.4% 9.0% £221,315
Wales Monthly change Annual change Average price
Cash -2.7% 1.2% £135,566
Mortgage -1.5% 2.0% £141,655
First time buyer -1.7% 1.8% £120,779
Former owner occupier -2.2% 1.6% £161,004
New build 3.0% 4.0% £180,549
Existing resold property -2.3% 1.6% £136,924

Funding status, buyer status and building status for London

London Monthly change Annual change Average price
Cash 0.4% 13.6% £495,492
Mortgage 0.6% 14.8% £462,192
First time buyer 0.3% 14.4% £410,358
Former owner occupier 0.8% 14.6% £531,099
New build 4.1% 14.6% £476,689
Existing resold property 0.3% 14.5% £469,459

Notes to editors

  1. The UK House Price Index (HPI) is published on the second or third Tuesday of each month with Northern Ireland figures updated quarterly. The May 2016 UK HPI will be published at 9.30am on 19 July 2016. See the calendar of release dates.

  2. Data for the UK HPI is provided by HM Land Registry, Registers of Scotland, Land & Property Services Northern Ireland and the Valuation Office Agency.

  3. The UK HPI is calculated by the Office for National Statistics andLand & Property Services Northern Ireland. It applies a hedonic regression model that uses the various sources of data on property price, in particular, HM Land Registry’s Price Paid Dataset, and attributes to produce estimates of the change in house prices each month. Find out more about the methodology used from ONS and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

  4. Work has been taking place over the past two years to develop a single, official HPI that reflects the final transaction price for sales of residential property in the UK. Using the geometric mean, it covers purchases at market value for owner-occupation and buy-to-let, excluding those purchases not at market value (such as re-mortgages), where the ‘price’ represents a valuation.

  5. Information on residential property transactions for England and Wales, collected as part of the official registration process, is provided by HM Land Registry for properties that are sold for full market value.

  6. The HM Land Registry dataset contains the sale price of the property, the date when the sale was completed, full address details, the type of property (i.e. detached, semi-detached, terraced or flat), if it is a newly built property or an established residential building and a variable to indicate if the property has been purchased as a financed transaction (i.e. using a mortgage) or as a non-financed transaction (cash purchase).

  7. Background tables of the raw and cleansed aggregated data, in CSV formats, are also published monthly although Northern Ireland is updated on a quarterly basis. They are available for free use and re-use under the Open Government Licence.

  8. As a government department established in 1862, executive agency and trading fund responsible to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, HM Land Registry keeps and maintains the Land Register for England and Wales. The Land Register has been open to public inspection since 1990.

  9. With the largest transactional database of its kind detailing more than 24 million titles, HM Land Registry underpins the economy by safeguarding ownership of many billions of pounds worth of property.

  10. For further information about HM Land Registry visit www.gov.uk/land-registry.

  11. Follow us on Twitter @HMLandRegistry, our blog, LinkedIn and Facebook.

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Updates to this page

Published 14 June 2016