Latest UK HPI: February 2017

Latest UK HPI: February 2017

The Housing Price Index has been published today (11/04/17).

Replacing the separately published house price indices from HM Land Registry and Office for National Statistics, the UK Housing Price Index provides a detailed summary of the recent house price statistics.

Introduced in 2016, the UK HPI comprises of all residential properties bought for market value within the UK.

However, there may be a delay before transactions sync into the index as sales will only show up in the HPI after they have been registered. It is, therefore, important to bear this in mind when looking at the most recent periods of price changes – these may be amended.

 All UK dwellings

In the UK, there has been a 5.8% growth in average house prices during the year to February 2017 – this is a rise from 5.3% in the year to January 2017. This is still below 2016’s average annual house price growth of 7.3%

During the second month of 2017, the average UK house price was £218,000. Compared to February 2016, this is £12,000 higher and £2,000 more than January 2017.

UK Country Comparison

The rise in UK house prices, on the whole, was largely driven by the increase of prices in England.  In the year to February 2017, house prices grew by 6.3%, with the average currently reaching £234,000.

Over the same 12 month period, Wales saw house prices rise by 1.8%, growing to £145,000.

For Scotland, the annual rise in house prices was 3.1%, meaning prices currently stand at £139,000.

Average house prices in Northern Ireland are now at £125,000, having risen by 5.7% over the past year.

English Regional Comparison

The highest average house price continues to be in London, standing at £475,000. This is followed by the South East at £312,000 and the East of England which stands at £282,000. The North East is home to the lowest average house price, currently valued at £124,000.

Growing by 10.3% in the year to February 2017, the East of England was the region which showed the highest annual growth. At 7.5%, the East Midlands had the second highest growth, whilst the West Midlands ranked third at 7.0%. The North East had the lowest level of annual growth, where house prices grew by just 2.2%.

UK Local Authority District Comparison

The Shetland Islands was the local authority with the highest yearly growth during the year to February 2017. Here, prices now stand at £184,000, having grown by 25.9%.

In some local authorities such as the Na h-Eileanan Siar, Orkney and the Shetland Islands, small numbers of sales transactions can result in volatility in the series. Although this is acknowledged and efforts are made to account for this, local level price changes can be affected by the number of homes sold as well as the property type.

With prices dropping by 9.6% to £161,000, the lowest annual growth was documented in the City of Aberdeen.

The most expensive borough to live in was Kensington and Chelsea during February 2017; the average price of a house here was £1.4 million. The cheapest area to purchase from, in contrast, was Blaenau Gwent, with average house prices recorded at £78,000.

Revision to the data

Having the looked at the revisions policy of the HPI data, HM Land Registry are intending to increase the revision period to 12 months.

Although affecting the level of transactions recorded, it unlikely to have a significant impact on the headline average price and the associated growth.

The amendment is due to come into effect from June 2017.

Georgia Owen

Georgia is the Content Executive and will be your primary contact when submitting your latest news. While studying for an LLB at the University of Liverpool, Georgia gained experience working within retail, as well as social media management. She later went on to work for a local newspaper, before starting at Today’s Conveyancer.

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