Press release

UK House Price Index (HPI) for March 2017

The UK House Price Index shows house price changes for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

price change

The March data shows an annual price increase of 4.1% which takes the average property value in the UK to £215,847. Monthly house prices have fallen by 0.6% since February 2017. The monthly index figure for the UK was 113.2.

In England, the March data shows an annual price increase of 4.4% which takes the average property value to £232,530. Monthly house prices have fallen by 0.6% since February 2017.

Wales shows an annual price increase of 4.3% which takes the average property value to £147,746. Monthly house prices have risen by 1.4% since February 2017.

London shows an annual price increase of 1.5% which takes the average property value to £471,742. Monthly house prices have fallen by 1.5% since February 2017.

The regional data indicates that:

  • East Midlands and the East of England experienced the greatest increase in average property price over the last 12 months, each with a movement of 6.7%
  • West Midlands experienced the only monthly price growth with an increase of 0.3%
  • North East saw the only negative annual price growth with a movement of -0.4%
  • London saw the most significant monthly price fall with a movement of -1.5%

UK Property Transaction statistics showed that in March 2017 the total number of seasonally adjusted property transactions completed in the UK with a value of £40,000 or above has remained at a similar level for the last 3 months. See the economic statement.

Sales during January 2017, the most up-to-date HM Land Registry figures available, show that:

  • the number of completed house sales in England fell by 16.6% to 50,790 compared with 60,923 in January 2016
  • the number of completed house sales in Wales fell by 2.3% to 2,762 compared with 2,828 in January 2016
  • the number of completed house sales in London fell by 26.3% to 5,968 compared with 8,093 in January 2016
  • there were 532 repossession sales in England in January 2017
  • there were 56 repossession sales in Wales in January 2017
  • the lowest number of repossession sales in England and Wales in January 2017 was in the East of England

Access the full March UK HPI .

Price change by region for England

Region Monthly change % since February 2017 Annual change % since March 2016 Average price March 2017
East Midlands -0.2 6.7 £176,213
East of England -0.8 6.7 £277,127
London -1.5 1.5 £471,742
North East -1.3 -0.4 £122,298
North West -0.6 6.2 £150,250
South East -0.5 3.8 £311,514
South West -0.7 2.8 £240,222
West Midlands 0.3 6.5 £180,293
Yorkshire and The Humber -0.6 4.0 £149,606

Average price by property type for England

Average price by property type (England) March 2017 March 2016 Difference %
Detached £349,524 £335,972 4.0
Semi-detached £215,584 £204,332 5.5
Terraced £186,784 £179,607 4.0
Flat/maisonette £220,648 £211,891 4.1
All £232,530 £222,663 4.4

Price change for Wales

Wales Monthly change % since February 2017 Annual change % since March 2016 Average price March 2017
Wales 1.4 4.3 £147,746

Average price by property type for Wales

Average price by property type (Wales) March 2017 March 2016 Difference %
Detached £219,943 £213,809 2.9
Semi-detached £142,584 £135,451 5.3
Terraced £114,798 £109,711 4.6
Flat/maisonette £108,864 £103,462 5.2
All £147,746 £141,617 4.3

Average price by property type for London

Average price by property type (London) March 2017 March 2016 Difference %
Detached £897,726 £873,391 2.8
Semi-detached £571,620 £549,954 3.9
Terraced £482,549 £477,329 1.1
Flat/maisonette £417,015 £412,842 1.0
All £471,742 £464,647 1.5

Sales volumes for England

Month Sales 2017 England Sales 2016 England Difference %
December 65,064 80,367 -19.0
January 50,790 60,923 -16.6

Sales volumes for Wales

Month Sales 2017 Wales Sales 2016 Wales Difference %
December 3,845 4,129 -6.9
January 2,762 2,828 -2.3

Sales volumes for London

Month Sales 2017 London Sales 2016 London Difference %
December 6,665 9,700 -31.3
January 5,968 8,093 -26.3

Funding, buyer and building status for England

Transaction Type Monthly price change % since February 2017 Annual price change % since March 2016 Average price March 2017
Cash -0.6 4.3 £219,058
Mortgage -0.6 4.5 £239,316
First time buyer -0.5 4.7 £195,698
Former owner occupier -0.7 4.2 £263,180
New build -7.0 10.9 £285,112
Existing resold property -0.2 3.9 £228,952

Funding, buyer and building status for Wales

Transaction Type Monthly price change % since February 2017 Annual price change % since March 2016 Average price March 2017
Cash 1.0 3.5 £143,766
Mortgage 1.5 4.8 £150,107
First time buyer 2.0 4.7 £128,177
Former owner occupier 0.6 3.9 £170,406
New build -4.4 13.0 £194,043
Existing resold property 1.6 3.7 £144,983

Funding, buyer and building status for London

Transaction Type Monthly price change % since February 2017 Annual price change % since March 2016 Average price March 2017
Cash -2.0 1.8 £498,925
Mortgage -1.4 1.5 £463,424
First time buyer -1.6 1.5 £412,818
Former owner occupier -1.5 1.5 £531,889
New build -8.5 7.0 £477,877
Existing resold property -1.0 1.1 £471,147

Repossession

Repossession sales January 2017
East Midlands 40
East of England 9
London 32
North East 87
North West 143
South East 53
South West 36
Yorkshire and The Humber 83
West Midlands 49
England 532
Wales 56

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 April 2017 UK HPI will be published at 9.30am on 13 June 2017. See calendar of release dates.

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

  3. The UK HPI is calculated by the Office for National Statistics andLand & Property Services/Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. 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 & Research Agency.

  4. The first estimate for new build average price (April 2016 report) was based on a small sample which can cause volatility. A three-month moving average has been applied to the latest estimate to remove some of this volatility.

  5. Work has been taking place since 2014 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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 (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 (using a mortgage) or as a non-financed transaction (cash purchase).

  8. Repossession data is based on the number of transactions lodged with HM Land Registry by lenders exercising their power of sale.

  9. For England, this is shown as volumes of repossessions recorded by Government Office Region. For Wales, there is a headline figure for the number of repossessions recorded in Wales.

  10. The data can be downloaded as a .csv file. Repossession data prior to April 2016 is not available. Find out more information about repossessions.

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

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

  13. 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.

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

  15. Follow us on Twitter @HMLandRegistry and find us on our blogLinkedIn and Facebook

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Published 16 May 2017