Average House Price UK: The Official Figure Charted Since 1968

Average House Price UK: The Official Figure Charted Since 1968

The average house price in the UK is the official UK House Price Index figure published by HM Land Registry and the Office for National Statistics, and the chart below plots it every month from April 1968 with the annual change the index itself reports. The headline line carries the latest month and the percentage change on a year earlier, read live from the index each time the page loads, so the figure here is never older than the published one. Mortgage One is a whole of market mortgage adviser helping buyers and movers turn the average UK house price into a deposit, a loan and a monthly payment.

For a free initial consultation on what a home at today's average price would cost you to finance, call 01202 155992 or contact Mortgage One.

Where the average UK house price figure comes from

The figure is the UK average for all property types from the UK House Price Index, calculated from completed sales registered with HM Land Registry and published jointly with the Office for National Statistics about six weeks after the month it covers. The series starts in April 1968 at £3,311 and each month's value can be revised in later releases.

It is the index most official bodies use because it is built from the price actually paid at completion, not an asking price or a mortgage approval. That is also why it lags. A sale agreed in one month completes two or three months later and is registered after that, so the index for a month is only settled once the late registrations arrive, and the most recent months are revised upward or downward in each new release. The chart reads the live index on every page load, so a revision reaches it as soon as it is published.

Two other averages reach the headlines first. Nationwide and the Lloyds index, formerly the Halifax index, read their own mortgage approvals and report within days of the month end, so they catch a turn in the market sooner, but each covers only its own borrowers and the two can disagree with each other by tens of thousands of pounds. The official index covers every registered sale, including cash purchases, which is why we chart it and why our UK house price predictions page measures every forecast against it.

How has the average house price in the UK changed over time?

On the published index the UK average was £3,311 in April 1968, £53,658 in January 1990, £77,950 in January 2000 and £198,186 in August 2016, a rise of roughly sixty times over the first five decades of the series. The 2008 downturn took the index from £175,052 in September 2007 to £142,278 in March 2009.

Use the range buttons to see the pattern at each scale. Over the whole series the line rises in long waves broken by three clear setbacks: the early 1990s, 2008 to 2009 and the brief dip of late 2022 and 2023 after mortgage rates jumped. Over the last ten years the rise is steadier, with the pandemic surge of 2020 to 2022 the one sharp move. Over five years the line is close to flat in real terms, because pay and inflation have been rising at about the same pace as prices.

Hover any month for the price and its annual change. The annual change line is the one to read for direction, because the price itself moves by small amounts month to month and the headlines about rises and falls are almost always about the annual figure. A month where the annual change crosses from positive to negative is where a fall begins, and the index's own figure is the one you can quote with a source.

Are house prices falling across the UK right now?

The chart's annual change reading answers that for the latest published month, drawn from the index's own figure. A negative reading means the UK average is below a year earlier, and a small positive reading with inflation above it means prices are falling in real terms while rising in cash terms, the pattern for most of the period since 2022.

The national average hides the spread beneath it, and it is deliberately the only figure on this page. Mortgage One arranges mortgages across the whole of the UK, so the figure we track is the one every lender's valuer, every forecaster and every policymaker measures against, and the regional story belongs to the index's own regional tables. What matters for a buyer is the direction of the national line and the rate at which it is moving, because that sets the tone of every negotiation and every valuation.

Where the line goes next is a forecasting question, and the forecasters disagree on the route more than the destination. Our page on UK house price predictions sets out what the main forecasters expect year by year to 2031 and why mortgage rates, not prices, decide which of them is right. For a buyer the practical point is that a flat or gently falling index removes the pressure to rush, and a rising one restores it, and the chart tells you which you are in.

If you are weighing whether to buy now or wait and want the mortgage side of that decision priced properly, call 01202 155992 or contact Mortgage One.

Why the average house price is not what you will pay

The UK average is a mix-adjusted figure across every property type, from flats to detached houses, so it is higher than the typical first-time buyer purchase and lower than the typical detached house. Buying also costs more than the price: the deposit, stamp duty above £125,000 for a standard buyer, and legal, survey and lender fees all sit on top.

Mix adjustment is the part most people miss. The index weights each sale so that a month with more expensive houses sold does not show as a price rise, which makes it a reliable measure of change but a poor guide to any single purchase. A first-time buyer in most of the UK buys below the average, and a family moving to a detached house buys well above it. The number to plan around is the price of the type of home you want in the area you want, and the chart is the backdrop that tells you which way that price is drifting.

The cost of buying a house is a second layer. On top of the price come the deposit, which most lenders set at 5% of the price as a minimum, stamp duty, which a standard buyer in England and Northern Ireland pays on the portion of the price above £125,000 while a first-time buyer pays nothing up to £300,000, and the conveyancing, survey and arrangement fees that complete the picture. Our guide to how much deposit you need for a mortgage works through the full upfront cost, and the stamp duty calculator gives the tax on any purchase price.

What does the average house price cost per month on a mortgage?

A buyer with a 25% deposit on the average-priced UK home borrows 75% of the chart's latest price, and the monthly cost of that loan over 25 years at the average quoted fixed rate is worked out every month on our average mortgage payment page. The payment moves far more with the rate than with the price.

That is the figure most people are really asking for when they search for the average house price. A price on its own is a number to react to. A monthly payment is a number to budget for, and the two can move in opposite directions, as they did through 2022 and 2023 when prices paused while payments jumped. Our average mortgage payment UK chart uses the same house price series as this page, so the two charts always describe the same month, and it adds the payment as a share of average earnings so you can see whether a mortgage has become harder to carry as well as dearer.

The deposit is the other half of the sum. On a price of £200,000 a 5% deposit is £10,000 and a 25% deposit is £50,000, and the difference between those two buyers is not only the cash but the rate tier the loan lands in, because lenders price 95% loan to value well above 75%. How much a lender will lend against your income is a separate limit again, and our guide to how much you can borrow sets out how each lender turns a salary into a maximum loan.

How to use the average house price when planning a purchase

Treat the chart as the reference line, not the target. Start from the price of the home you actually want, apply your deposit, check the loan against what a lender will offer on your income, and read the chart only to judge whether the market is moving with you or against you.

Three habits make the chart useful. Read the annual change, not the month, because month-to-month moves are revised and the annual figure is the one lenders and valuers quote. Check the status line beneath the chart, which says whether the data came live from the index or from the snapshot, and the headline line, which carries the month the figure belongs to. And compare the chart's latest month with the date of any forecast you read, because a forecast made before the latest release is already a month behind.

Then take the mortgage question to someone who prices it every day. The average price tells you where the market is. It does not tell you which lender will accept your deposit source, how your income will be assessed or which rate tier you can reach with a slightly larger deposit, and those three decisions move the monthly cost more than the next move in the index will. Whether now is a good time to buy is weighed against the mortgage arithmetic in our analysis of whether it is a good time to buy a house, and the deposit and borrowing questions sit in the guides linked above.

If you have a property in mind and want to know what deposit, loan and monthly payment it would take at today's rates, call 01202 155992 or contact Mortgage One.

Back to Rates, Charts and Data

The information provided in this article is for general guidance only and does not constitute personal or regulated financial advice. If you'd like to understand what these moves could mean for you, speak to Mortgage One. We can explain your options and timings based on your specific circumstances.

FAQs

1. What is the average house price in the UK right now? The latest official figure sits in the headline line of the chart above with the month it belongs to and the change on a year earlier, read live from the UK House Price Index. The index is published by HM Land Registry and the Office for National Statistics about six weeks after the month it covers, so the latest point is always around six weeks behind the calendar.

2. How much did a house cost in 1990 in the UK? The UK House Price Index puts the UK average at £53,658 in January 1990. By January 2000 it was £77,950 and by August 2016 it was £198,186. Hover any month on the chart to see the published figure and its annual change.

3. Are house prices falling across the UK? Read the annual change in the chart's headline line. A negative figure means the UK average is lower than a year earlier. A small positive figure below the rate of inflation means prices are rising in cash terms but falling in real terms, which has been the pattern for most of the period since 2022. The national figure hides large differences between regions and property types.

4. Can I buy a house for £50,000 in the UK? Homes at that price exist but are scarce, and a mortgage on one is harder to arrange than the price suggests because many lenders set a minimum loan size and some will not lend on non-standard construction or very small flats. A buyer at that level is usually a cash purchaser or borrowing a small amount against a larger deposit. The practical route is to check the lender's minimum loan before offering.

5. What is a reasonable offer on a £300,000 house? There is no fixed percentage. The right offer depends on how long the home has been listed, how its asking price compares with recent sold prices nearby and whether the chart shows the market rising or falling. A lender's valuation sets the ceiling on what you can borrow against it, so an offer above the valuation has to be covered from your own funds. A mortgage agreement in principle before you offer puts you in a stronger position than a higher bid.

6. How often is the average UK house price updated? Monthly. The UK House Price Index publishes each month's figure about six weeks after the month ends, and earlier months can be revised in each release. The chart reads the index live each time the page loads and falls back to its stored copy if the index is unavailable, with the status line beneath the chart saying which was used.

7. Does Mortgage One advise on how much to pay for a house? No. Mortgage One advises on the mortgage, which means the deposit you need, the loan a lender will offer on your income, the rate tier your deposit reaches and the monthly cost. A free initial consultation sets those figures for the price you have in mind, so you know what you can offer before you negotiate.