UK House Price Index Surges in May 2023

The May data shows:

  • on average, house prices have not changed since April 2023
  • there has been an annual price rise of 1.9% which makes the average property in the UK valued at £285,861

England

In England, the May data shows that, on average, house prices have fallen 0.4% since April 2023. The annual price rise of 1.7% takes the average property value to £303,557.

The regional data for England indicates that:

  • the West Midlands experienced the greatest monthly price rise with an increase of 0.5%
  • London saw the most significant monthly price fall, with a movement of -1.2%
  • the North East experienced the greatest annual price rise, up by 4.0%
  • the East of England saw the lowest annual price growth, with an increase of 0.0%

Price change by region for England

RegionAverage price May 2023Annual change % since May 2022Monthly change % since April 2023
East Midlands£247,2423.40.3
East of England£345,7100.0-0.8
London£525,6290.8-1.2
North East£158,7794.0-1.0
North West£211,7902.7-0.2
South East£388,8731.5-0.9
South West£323,7651.0-0.2
West Midlands£248,1662.20.5
Yorkshire and the Humber£204,5881.2-0.4

Repossession sales by volume for England

The lowest number of repossession sales in March 2023 was in the East Midlands and East of England.

The highest number of repossession sales in March 2023 was in the North East.

Repossession salesMarch 2023
East Midlands2
East of England2
London14
North East19
North West17
South East16
South West3
West Midlands8
Yorkshire and the Humber11
England92

Average price by property type for England

Property typeMay 2023May 2022Difference %
Detached£478,030£468,7732
Semi-detached£289,575£285,9681.3
Terraced£247,907£244,4561.4
Flat/maisonette£249,976£245,3221.9
All£303,557£298,5961.7

Funding and buyer status for England

Transaction typeAverage price May 2023Annual price change % since May 2022Monthly price change % since April 2023
Cash£284,1431.4-0.4
Mortgage£313,2191.8-0.5
First-time buyer£251,8941.7-0.3
Former owner occupier£348,0521.6-0.6

Building status for England

Building statusAverage price March 2023Annual price change % since March 2022Monthly price change % since February 2023
New build£439,03319.50.8
Existing resold property£295,7483.2-1.3

London

London shows, on average, house prices have fallen 1.2% since April 2023. An annual price rise of 0.8% takes the average property value to £525,629.

Average price by property type for London

Property typeMay 2023May 2022Difference %
Detached£1,061,480£1,073,598-1.1
Semi-detached£668,721£678,595-1.5
Terraced£573,105£571,4690.3
Flat/maisonette£439,987£431,4692.0
All£525,629£521,5610.8

Funding and buyer status for London

Transaction typeAverage price May 2023Annual price change % since May 2022Monthly price change % since April 2023
Cash£546,1771.3-0.6
Mortgage£518,8980.7-1.4
First-time buyer£453,0570.9-1.2
Former owner occupier£604,6330.6-1.3

Building status for London

Building statusAverage price March 2023Annual price change % since March 2022Monthly price change % since February 2023
New build£607,04316.5-0.3
Existing resold property£517,7830.4-1.9

Wales

Wales shows, on average, house prices have risen by 0.6% since April 2023. An annual price rise of 1.8% takes the average property value to £213,374.

There were 6 repossession sales for Wales in March 2023.

Average price by property type for Wales

Property typeMay 2023May 2022Dfference %
Detached£326,767£320,3042
Semi-detached£205,423£203,5120.9
Terraced£167,078£163,7202.1
Flat/maisonette£136,517£133,1002.6
All£213,374£209,5991.8

Funding and buyer status for Wales

Transaction typeAverage price May 2023Annual price change % since May 2022Monthly price change % since April 2023
Cash£205,8001.60.6
Mortgage£217,7241.90.6
First-time buyer£183,5641.70.9
Former owner occupier£248,5402.00.3

Building status for Wales

Building statusAverage price March 2023Annual price change % since March 2022Monthly price change % since February 2023
New build£339,17021.11.1
Existing resold property£209,3874.8-0.4

UK house prices

The annual percentage change for average UK house prices was 1.9% in the 12 months to May 2023, compared with 3.2% in the 12 months to April 2023.

The average UK house price was £286,000 in May 2023, which is £6,000 higher than 12 months ago, but £7,000 below the recent peak in September 2022.Average house prices increased over the 12 months to £304,000 (1.7%) in England, to £213,000 in Wales (1.8%), to £193,000 in Scotland (3.2%) and to £172,000 in Northern Ireland (5.0%).

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, average UK house prices were little changed between April 2023 and May 2023, while average UK house prices increased by 1.3% during the same period 12 months ago.

The UK Property Transactions Statistics showed that in May 2023, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the estimated number of transactions of residential properties with a value of £40,000 or greater was 80,020. This is 27.0% lower than 12 months ago (May 2022). Between April 2023 and May 2023, UK transactions decreased by 2.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Annual house price inflation was highest in the North East where prices increased by 4.0% in the 12 months to May 2023. The East of England was the English region with the lowest annual growth, where prices were little changed in the 12 months to May 2023.

See the economic statement.

The UK HPI is based on completed housing transactions. Typically, a house purchase can take 6 to 8 weeks to reach completion. As with other indicators in the housing market, which typically fluctuate from month to month, it is important not to put too much weight on one month's set of house price data.

Access the full UK HPI

Background

1.We publish the UK House Price Index (HPI) on the second or third Wednesday of each month with Northern Ireland figures updated quarterly. We will publish the June 2023 UK HPI at 9:30am on Wednesday 16 August 2023. See calendar of release dates.

2.We have made some changes to improve the accuracy of the UK HPI. We are not publishing average price and percentage change for new builds and existing resold property as done previously because there are not currently enough new build transactions to provide a reliable result. This means that in this month's UK HPI reports, new builds and existing resold property are reported in line with the sales volumes currently available.

3.The UK HPI revision period has been extended to 13 months, following a review of the revision policy (see calculating the UK HPI section 4.4). This ensures the data used is more comprehensive.

4.Sales volume data is available by property status (new build and existing property) and funding status (cash and mortgage) in our downloadable data tables. Transactions that require us to create a new register, such as new builds, are more complex and require more time to process. Read revisions to the UK HPI data.

5.Revision tables are available for England and Wales within the downloadable data in CSV format. See about the UK HPI f

/Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here.