Our monthly Property Surveying summary of property market news, survey data, statistics, trends and information. (All figures below are the most recently available data.)
UK House Price Index
Data source: Land Registry
UK average house price = £239,196, 0.7% change in the month, 2.5% up in the year. Monthly index figures (where January 2015 = 100) 125.4
These figures were published in October for August 2020 following a suspended service since March 2020.
England’s house prices showed the strongest growth in house prices at 2.8% in the year to August. Regionally, the highest annual growth was seen in the East Midlands at 3.6%. The North East saw the lowest annual growth at 0.2% in the year.
Halifax
UK average house price = £249,870, up 1.6% in the month, 3.3% up in the quarter, up 7.3% in the year.
The Halifax October report showed house prices rising substantially for the third consecutive month, and annual house price growth at its strongest since June 2016.
Home working is a driving factor of people wanting to move home, with the added incentive of taking advantage of the stamp duty holiday before it is is withdrawn at the end of March 2021.
England and Wales average house asking price = £323,530, up 1.1% in the month and 5.5% in the year.
House prices are now at the biggest rate of increase in four years, and Rightmove now forecast the house price growth rate to peak at 7% in December. September saw 70% more sales than the same month last year.
The momentum of the last couple of months now appears to be easing, although October was still 58% up on the same period in 2019.
UK average house price = £226,129, 0.9% change in the month and 5.0% increase in the year.
The housing market continued to recover into September, with annual house price growth at its highest since September 2016.
A Nationwide survey showed a quarter of people who had planned to move pre-pandemic had put their plans on hold because of concerns over the property market, job security and waiting for a vaccine. Around a third of movers were looking to move to another area and and 30% hoped to move to a home with outdoor or garden space.
Average England and Wales house price = £311,624, 0.7% change in the month, 3.4% in the year.
House price growth annually was at the highest in Greater London at 7.6%.
HM Revenue & Customs
The provisional number of UK residential property transaction completions (over £40,000) for September 2020 was 98,010, representing a seasonally adjusted decrease of -0.7% from September 2019, and 21.3% increase from August 2020.
The number of non-residential property transactions for September 2020 was 9,160, a decrease of -6.3 from September 2019, and 18.7% increase from August 2020.
Land Registry Price Paid Data
HM Land Registry has issued partial releases of market data since April 2020, due to the impact of the Covid pandemic on its operations. Datasets are available.
REGIONAL HOUSE PRICES
| UK HPI Regional figures (all percentages are positive unless indicated otherwise) | |||
| August 2020 | Average price GBP | % monthly change | % annual change |
| England | £256,109 | 0.7% | 2.8% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Ireland (Quarter 2 – 2020) | £141,131 | 0.3% | 3.0% |
| Scotland | £155,191 | 0.4% | 0.6% |
| Wales | £172,828 | 2.1% | 2.7% |
| East Midlands | £202,345 | 0.6% | 3.6% |
| East of England | £296,411 | 0.8% | 2.0% |
| London | £489,259 | 0.9% | 3.5% |
| North East | £131,701 | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| North West | £173,617 | 1.4% | 3.5% |
| South East | £332,147 | 1.6% | 2.9% |
| South West | £264,886 | 0.0% | 2.5% |
| West Midlands | £204,886 | 0.1% | 2.3% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £170,025 | 0.1% | 2.7% |
UK HPI Average monthly price by property type
| Property type | August 2020 | August 2019 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached | £365,316 | £354,368 | 3.1% |
| Semi-detached | £230,455 | £221,347 | 4.1% |
| Terraced | £194,611 | £190,139 | 2.4% |
| Flat/maisonette | £203,708 | £204,645 | -0.5% |
| All | £239,196 | £233,366 | 2.5% |
Rightmove regional figures
|  October 2020 | Average price GBP | Change since March | Annual change |
| London | £634,399 | 0.2% | 2.6% |
| South East | £422,477 | 1.1% | 4.4% |
| South West | £327,841 | 1.7% | 5.5% |
| East of England | £369,864 | 1.7% | 5.3% |
| West Midlands | £244,558 | 0.3% | 6.3% |
| East Midlands | £369,864 | 1.7% | 7.7% |
| North West | £215,357 | 1.1% | 7.0% |
| Wales | £213,721 | 0.6% | 7.0% |
| Yorkshire & Humberside | £209,970 | -0.1% | 7.4% |
| North East | £160,303 | -1.6% | 6.4% |
Nationwide regional figures
| Q3: 3 months to September 2020 | Average House Price (£) GBP | Annual % change (this quarter) | Annual % change (previous quarter) |
| N Ireland | £146,152 | 1.5% | 0.1% |
| North West | £171,675 | 3.0% | 4.8% |
| East Midlands | £194,749 | 4.0% | 1.5% |
| West Midlands | £194,577 | 3.1% | 0.6% |
| Scotland | £153,347 | 2.0% | 4.0% |
| Yorkshire & Humber | £167,816 | 4.6% | 1.9% |
| East Anglia | £238,896 | 2.7% | 0.7% |
| Wales | £165,423 | 3.8% | 1.0% |
| North | £132,898 | 4.2% | -0.3% |
| South West | £260,316 | 5.5% | 1.5% |
| Outer South East | £291,404 | 4.8% | 1.7% |
| Outer Met | £376,682 | 5.0% | 0.8% |
| London | £480,857 | 4.4% | 1.0% |
| UK | £224,337 | 3.5% | 2.5% |
| LSL Acadata Regional Data – September 2020 | Average House Price £ GBP | Monthly % change | Annual % Change |
| Greater London | £666,117 | 2.6% | 7.6% |
| South East | £383,954 | 0.8% | 1.9% |
| South West | £297,108 | 0.8% | 2.4% |
| East of England | £336,517 | 0.5% | 1.6% |
| West Midlands | £233,972 | 0.4% | 2.3% |
| East Midlands | £225,107 | 0.3% | 1.8% |
| North West | £198,717 | 0.8% | 2.8% |
| Wales | £197,640 | 1.2% | 4.7% |
| Yorkshire & Humber | £196,691 | 0.2% | 0.5% |
| North East | £165,068 | 0.7% | 0.2% |
Focus on London – Best and Worst (-) annual performers according to:
| Rightmove March 2020 | Average Price (£) GBP | Monthly change | Annual change |
| Lambeth | £656,625 | 1.3% | 8.6% |
| Kensington & Chelsea | £1,611,065 | 2.8% | 6.8% |
| Wandsworth | £797,854 | 1.4% | 0.0% |
| Havering | £401,493 | 2.1% | -0.9% |
| LCL Acadata August 2020 | Average Price (£) GBP | Monthly change | Annual change |
| Kensington & Chelsea | £2,313,087 | 9.1% | 23.8% |
| Brent | £733,394 | 3.9% | 22.9% |
| Newham | £399,118 | 4.0% | -10.0% |
| Camden | £1,047,263 | 1.6% | -10.2% |
RICS Survey Overview
The RICS Residential Market Survey for September 2020 showed a continued upturn in housing market activity.
Half of survey respondents recorded an increase in new buyer enquiries and new instructions rose for the fourth consecutive month. Despite this, the stock of houses for sale is still historically low, at an average 42 properties per estate agent.
The twelve month house price forecast is modest, and for London expected to fall slightly over the year.
Tenant demand rose in all areas except London, where there was a dip in demand. It is anticipated that rents will fall in London over the next three months.
Rightmove.co.uk is the UK’s leading property website, displaying details of homes for sale or rent to the largest online audience. It is consistently ranked the number one property website in the UK (source: Experian Hitwise). It has around 90% of all properties for sale and at any time displays a stock of over one million properties to buy or rent, worth around £270 billion. The Rightmove.co.uk site attracts over 130 million visits from home movers each month with time on site averaging over one billion minutes per month (Rightmove data, 2017).
LSL Acad E&W HPI is derived from Land Registry (LR) house price data, seasonally and mix adjusted by property type. © Crown copyright material reproduced with the permission of Land Registry. The prices are smoothed to show underlying trends. LSL Acad E&W HPI includes cash purchase prices and is the only index based upon the complete, factual house price data for England & Wales, as opposed to a sample.
UK HPI: Monthly house price inflation, calculated using data from Land Registry, Registers of Scotland and Land and Property Services Northern Ireland. This replaces the previous House Price Indices separately published by Office of National Statistics and Land Registry.
All figures within this article are correct at the time of going to press, and are reproduced in good faith. No responsibility will be taken for any decisions taken based on the information contained herein. Always seek professional advice.
The Monthly Market Fact File will be updated next month.
SH/LCB