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House Prices UK

house doorway with plants Why not stay abreast of what's happening to UK house prices and track current trends in the UK property market? HousePrices.uk.net helps you to find house prices, compare the latest house price indices, follow current developments and future trends, and dig out up-to-date information from our collection of technical and general house price resources.

HousePrices.uk.net is an independent website that helps you keep an eye on average house prices in the UK but without the trouble of tracking down and collating lots of different house price indices. We help you to make sense of the information by placing the various house price indices in their proper context and stripping away much of the marketing slant that often accompanies "news" about house prices.

Interactive House Price Graphs

In the Graphs and Regional Comparison sections you'll find interactive charts that allow you to compare the latest monthly UK house prices and house price inflation (HPI) from the Halifax, Nationwide, FT, Land Registry, CLG, and Rightmove indices. There's also a collection of regional house price graphs covering down to the district and city level.

Graph of house price inflation from 1995
Graph of UK house prices

Predicting House Prices from Mortgage Approval Figures

We are developing an experimental house price predictor new based on the correlation between UK house price inflation (HPI) and the monthly BoE mortgage approvals for house purchase figures. This is particularly useful because, unlike many of the official house price indices that provide only a lagged view, it can give a more timely estimate of HPI and is a good leading indicator of the UK property market. For example, a sharp fall in the approval numbers would have to preceed a house price crash.

The graphs below compare the Halifax house price inflation, shifted back by 6 months to correct for lag inherent in the YoY differencing, against the house prices obtained from the correlation. See Property Market Transactions or view House Price Approvals/Transactions and HPI graphs - select from BoE approvals, transactions, or HPI.

Graph of Mortgage Approvals
Graph of house price inflation and predictor based on monthly BoE mortgage approvals

Real-Time Indicators of House Prices

House price indices usually suffer from an inherent time lag, so why not look for a real-time indicator of UK house prices? This house builders index is based on the their quoted share price looks quite promising. It picked up on the mini-downturn in late-2004 and subsequent recovery in 2005, signalled the collapse on restricted credit in 2007, and is indicating a tentative recovery that began in early 2009 but has yet to get going.

House Builders Index - real time house price predictor?

Seasonal Adjustment

House prices vary seasonally between -2% and +1% in a way that reflects seasonal changes in demand - it leads to a sharp dip at Christmas and the New Year with a broad peak during June-July.

This can make it difficult to interpret the monthly changes in house prices in terms of either trends or irregular volatility, so it is standard practice to report house prices seasonally adjusted, or SA. The correction shown is the % change added to the NSA prices to get the SA ones. The level of seasonal adjustment is an excellent indiactor of the annual 'breathing' cycle of the houseing market, and hence its health.

Graph of monthly seasonal adjustment applied to the average house price

Interest Rate Outlook

A good idea of where future interest rates are heading can be found from the British Bankers Association LIBOR forward rates. On average, these settle slightly above the subsequent level of the BoE repo rate, however the current large gap is a direct reflection of credit crunch.

These are important because house prices in the UK are strongly influenced by the costs involved in servicing a mortgage as a proportion of income, so that changes in interest rates can lead directly to changes in house prices. more details

Interest rate forecast, BBA LIBOR

House Price Market Roundup

SourceIndex DateReleasedNSASAYoY
RightmoveMar 201118 Apr 2011£235,822+0.1%
NationwideApr 201104 May 2011£165,609£164,980-1.3%
HalifaxApr 201109 May 2011£162,303£160,395-3.7%
CLG MAJan 201113 Apr 2011£208,552+0.5%
FT-HPI MA Mar 201108 Apr 2011£222,146+0.0%
Land Registry HPIMar 201104 May 2011£160,996-2.3%
BoE Mortgage ApprovalsMar 201131 Apr 201157.1k47.6k ( 46.7k Feb )-1.4%
HMRC Property TransactionsMar 201121 Apr 201166k68k ( 71k Feb )-8.3%
RICS Price Rise BalanceApr 201110 May 2011-21% ( -22% Mar )
RICS Sales to StockApr 201110 May 2011 22.7% ( 20.6% Mar )

BoE base rate lowered by 0.50 percentage points to 0.5% on 5th March 2009
January 2012
CLG House Prices
UK map icon Browse graphs of CLG House Prices down to district level. Compare districts against their parent regions, and lots more. 25/Jul/2009
Mortgage Calculator

money icon Mortgage calculator and repayment tables

Future Interest Rates
Months AheadRate
+10.57 %
+20.50 %
+30.61 %
+60.70 %
+90.70 %
+120.71 %
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