Press release: UK House Price Index for September 2018

The September data shows:

  • on average, house prices have not changed since August 2018
  • there has been an annual price rise of 3.5%, which makes the average property in the UK valued at £232,554

England

In England, the September data shows on average, house prices have not changed since August 2018. The annual price rise of 3.0% takes the average property value to £249,408.

The regional data for England indicates that:

  • the East Midlands and West Midlands experienced the greatest monthly price rise, up by 1.1%
  • the Yorkshire and the Humber saw the most significant monthly price fall, down by 1.1%
  • the West Midlands experienced the greatest annual price rise, up by 6.1
  • London saw the lowest annual price increase, down by 0.3%

Price change by region for England

Region Average price September 2018 Monthly change % since August 2018
East Midlands £194,803 1.1
East of England £294,027 -0.1
London £482,241 -0.4
North East £132,049 0.8
North West £162,915 -0.8
South East £328,059 -0.2
South West £260,142 0.3
West Midlands £199,763 1.1
Yorkshire and the Humber £162,009 -1.1

Repossession sales by volume for England

The lowest number of repossession sales in July 2018 was in the East of England.

The highest number of repossession sales in July 2018 was in the North West.

Repossession sales July 2018
East Midlands 43
East of England 10
London 38
North East 80
North West 127
South East 69
South West 31
West Midlands 50
Yorkshire and the Humber 64
England 512

Average price by property type for England

Property type September 2018 September 2017 Difference %
Detached £382,714 £365,228 4.8
Semi-detached £233,050 £223,502 4.3
Terraced £201,818 £195,140 3.4
Flat/maisonette £225,757 £228,595 -1.2
All £249,408 £242,041 3.0

Funding and buyer status for England

Transaction type Average price September 2018 Annual price change % since September 2017 Monthly price change % since August 2018
Cash £234,743 3.0 -0.1
Mortgage £256,801 3.1 0.0
First-time buyer £208,497 2.5 -0.4
Former owner occupier £284,022 3.6 0.3

Building status for England

Building status* Average price July 2018 Annual price change % since July 2017 Monthly price change % since June 2018
New build £308,859 5.2 2.5
Existing resold property £244,482 2.8 1.2

*Figures for the two most recent months are not being published because there are not enough new build transactions to give a meaningful result.

London

London shows, on average, house prices have fallen by 0.4% since August 2018. An annual price fall of 0.3% takes the average property value to £482,241.

Average price by property type for London

Property type September 2018 September 2017 Difference %
Detached £943,905 £913,220 3.4
Semi-detached £598,120 £578,519 3.4
Terraced £504,774 £496,318 1.7
Flat/maisonette £418,919 £428,892 -2.3
All £482,241 £483,833 -0.3

Funding and buyer status for London

Transaction type Average price September 2018 Annual price change % since September 2017 Monthly price change % since August 2018
Cash £507,955 0.0 -0.4
Mortgage £474,396 -0.4 -0.3
First-time buyer £419,925 -1.0 -0.7
Former owner occupier £547,515 0.5 0.1

Building status for London

Building status* Average price July 2018 Annual price change % since July 2017 Monthly price change % since June 2018
New build £503,215 1.4 1.8
Existing resold property £484,584 -0.7 1.1

*Figures for the 2 most recent months are not being published because there are not enough new build transactions to give a meaningful result.

Wales

Wales shows, on average, house prices have risen by 0.5% since August 2018. An annual price rise of 5.8% takes the average property value to £162,089.

There were 62 repossession sales for Wales in July 2018.

Average price by property type for Wales

Property type September 2018 September 2017 Difference %
Detached £247,289 £231,555 6.8
Semi-detached £156,185 £147,039 6.2
Terraced £125,360 £118,443 5.8
Flat/maisonette £111,678 £111,226 0.4
All £162,089 £153,227 5.8

Funding and buyer status for Wales

Transaction type Average price September 2018 Annual price change % since September 2017 Monthly price change % since August 2018
Cash £157,510 5.4 0.6
Mortgage £164,805 6.0 0.4
First-time buyer £139,661 5.5 0.2
Former owner occupier £188,343 6.0 0.8

Building status for Wales

Building status* Average price July 2018 Annual price change % since July 2017 Monthly price change % since June 2018
New build £212,902 9.4 2.5
Existing resold property £155,711 5.0 1.1

*Figures for the two most recent months are not being published because there are not enough new build transactions to give a meaningful result.

Access the full UK HPI

UK house prices rose by 3.5% in the year to September 2018, up from 3.1% in the year to August 2018.

The UK Property Transaction Statistics for September 2018 showed that on a seasonally adjusted basis, the number of transactions on residential properties with a value of £40,000 or greater was 98,400. This is 2.7% lower compared to a year ago. Between August and September 2018, transactions fell by 0.5%.

House prices grew fastest in the West Midlands region increasing by 6.1% in the year to September 2018, followed by the East Midlands region which increased by 6.0% over the year. House prices in London fell by 0.3% in the year to September 2018. London house price have been falling over the year since March 2018.

See the economic statement.

Notes to editors

  1. The UK House Price Index (HPI) is published on the second or third Wednesday of each month with Northern Ireland figures updated quarterly. The October 2018 UK HPI will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 19 December 2018. 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 also available by property status (new build and existing property) and funding status (cash and mortgage) in our downloadable data tables. Transactions involving the creation of 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 have been introduced for England and Wales within the downloadable data. Tables will be available in csv format. See about the UK HPI for more information.

  6. Data for the UK HPI is provided by HM Land Registry, Registers of Scotland, Land & Property Services/Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and the Valuation Office Agency.

  7. The UK HPI is calculated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) andLand & Property Services/Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. It applies a hedonic regression model that uses the various sources of data on property price, in particular HM Land Registry’s Price Paid Dataset, and attributes to produce estimates of the change in house prices each month. Find out more about the methodology used from the ONS and Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.

  8. The UK Property Transaction statistics are taken from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) monthly estimates of the number of residential and non-residential property transactions in the UK and its constituent countries. The number of property transactions in the UK is highly seasonal, with more activity in the summer months and less in the winter. This regular annual pattern can sometimes mask the underlying movements and trends in the data series so HMRC also presents the UK aggregate transaction figures on a seasonally adjusted basis. Adjustments are made for both the time of year and the construction of the calendar, including corrections for the position of Easter and the number of trading days in a particular month.

  9. UK HPI seasonally adjusted series are calculated at regional and national levels only. See data tables.

  10. The first estimate for new build average price (April 2016 report) was based on a small sample which can cause volatility. A three-month moving average has been applied to the latest estimate to remove some of this volatility.

  11. Work has been taking place since 2014 to develop a single, official HPI that reflects the final transaction price for sales of residential property in the UK. Using the geometric mean, it covers purchases at market value for owner-occupation and buy-to-let, excluding those purchases not at market value (such as re-mortgages), where the ‘price’ represents a valuation.

  12. Information on residential property transactions for England and Wales, collected as part of the official registration process, is provided by HM Land Registry for properties that are sold for full market value.

  13. The HM Land Registry dataset contains the sale price of the property, the date when the sale was completed, full address details, the type of property (detached, semi-detached, terraced or flat), if it is a newly built property or an established residential building and a variable to indicate if the property has been purchased as a financed transaction (using a mortgage) or as a non-financed transaction (cash purchase).

  14. Repossession sales data is based on the number of transactions lodged with HM Land Registry by lenders exercising their power of sale.

  15. For England, this is shown as volumes of repossession sales recorded by Government Office Region. For Wales, there is a headline figure for the number of repossession sales recorded in Wales.

  16. The data can be downloaded as a .csv file. Repossession sales data prior to April 2016 is not available. Find out more information about repossession sales.

  17. Background tables of the raw and cleansed aggregated data, in Excel and CSV formats, are also published monthly although Northern Ireland is on a quarterly basis. They are available for free use and re-use under the Open Government Licence.

  18. HM Land Registry’s mission is to guarantee and protect property rights in England and Wales.

  19. HM Land Registry is a government department created in 1862. It operates as an executive agency and a trading fund and its running costs are covered by the fees paid by the users of its services. Its ambition is to become the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data.

  20. HM Land Registry safeguards land and property ownership worth in excess of £4 trillion, including around £1 trillion of mortgages. The Land Register contains more than 25 million titles showing evidence of ownership for some 85% of the land mass of England and Wales.

  21. For further information about HM Land Registry visit www.gov.uk/land-registry

  22. Follow us on Twitter @HMLandRegistry, our blog, LinkedIn and Facebook

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Press release: UK House Price Index for September 2018

The UK HPI shows house price changes for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.



Press release: £950 fine for Leicester man fishing with unlicensed rod and line

Burton Overy man guilty after being found guilty of fishing with an unlicensed rod and line in May 2018.



Press release: £950 fine for Leicester man fishing with unlicensed rod and line

A 28-year old man from Burton Overy, Leicester has been successfully prosecuted after being found guilty of fishing with an unlicensed rod and line in May 2018.

The case was brought to Wellingborough Magistrates Court by the Environment Agency on 12 November 2018 where Sam Kirk, of Scotland Lane, Burton Overy, was proved guilty in his absence and ordered to pay a total penalty of £957.

The penalty includes a fine of £220 plus costs of £737 after Kirk was found in possession of an unlicensed fishing instrument, namely rod and line, with the intention of using it for fishing on 5 May 2018 at Beedles Lake, East Goscote, Leicester, contrary to Section 27(1)(b) of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975.

Following the verdict, Pete Haslock, Fisheries Enforcement Team Leader for the Environment Agency said:

We take all kinds of illegal fishing extremely seriously – whether it’s those fishing without a licence, or licensed anglers using illegal equipment. This case shows anglers how seriously the courts take these offences and we hope it will act as a deterrent to other anglers who flout the laws.

Illegal fishing is not fair on other anglers who fish within the law, and it also endangers the future of the sport by damaging the sustainability of fish stocks.

We regularly carry out enforcement operations to protect fish stocks and improve fisheries and urge anyone who has any information about any incidents of illegal fishing to report them to us so we can investigate.

Anyone who suspects anglers of illegal fishing are urged to contact the Environment Agency’s 24/7 hotline on 0800 807060, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.



News story: Multi-million investment to support children’s early communication skills

Disadvantaged families will benefit from extra support to nurture their child’s early development at home, thanks to multi-million pound projects launched today (14 November) by the Education Secretary Damian Hinds.

The projects, backed by nearly £18 million, will include funding for additional training for health visitors who work with families of young children to identify speech, language and communication needs early on, helping to address and support concerns when they can have the most impact. It will also fund educational games, apps and text message ‘tips’ for parents and carers from disadvantaged backgrounds, helping them to interact with their children when at home or out and about, making everyday activities an opportunity for learning.

The Education Secretary will today host a summit bringing together nearly 100 businesses, charities and public sector organisations designed to tackle the ‘last taboo’ in education – supporting parents with learning at home. The summit will draw on a bank of existing research on parents’ confidence and behaviour when it comes to learning at home with their children.

Research is clear about the importance of the home environment for a child’s early learning, and even small changes can encourage conversations between parents and their young children. The Sutton Trust found parents are twice as likely to talk to children in face-to-face buggies, as opposed to those where the child faces forwards.

Speaking at today’s summit, Education Secretary Damian Hinds is expected to say:

Education begins long before children arrive in the classroom. It begins as soon as they leave the maternity ward, in the crucial early years in the home, where their parents and carers help shape and prepare them to start school. But for lots of parents, as much as they want the best for their children, they lack the support they need to ensure that their children are arriving at school at the same level as their peers.

That is why I am working with experts from around the country, using research from around the world, to propose a set of actions for parents to teach them simple steps to playing with, reading with and chatting with their children.

Because a strong home learning environment is about more than supporting literacy and communication skills – it is the key to building a child’s confidence, their belief in their own abilities, and their determination and strength of character.

Organisations including the National Literacy Trust, the National Children’s Bureau and the Scouts will get a share of the funding to boost parents’ confidence with learning at home, drawing on data that shows a lack of skill or fear of embarrassment can discourage them from interacting in this way. Grants will also go towards improving the training available for professionals working with young children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

One in eight children in receipt of free school meals say they do not own a single book at home, according to the National Literacy Trust. Many of today’s new projects will go to voluntary and community groups to improve early language, literacy and communication skills, building on the free childcare offers already available to three and four-year-olds and the most deprived two-year-olds in England.

They will harness technology and the latest global research to make user-friendly resources like text message prompts for parents to teach children new words and numbers, or strategies to help parents manage behaviour in the home.

Alongside this, the Department for Education has confirmed that a £20 million programme of training for early years staff in disadvantaged areas will support children’s early language, literacy and numeracy skills, benefitting up to 60,000 pre-school age children.

The announcement comes ahead of today’s summit that brings together a coalition of charities, media groups, technology companies and businesses to explore longer term opportunities to support parents with early learning at home, building on the Education Secretary’s commitment in July to raising outcomes for every child – by halving the percentage who leave reception without the early communication or reading skills they need to thrive by 2028.

Successful grants being announced today include:

£6.5 million for projects focused on closing the disadvantage gap at age five and improving the early years education of children with SEND, including:

  • ICAN’s Change the Conversation about Language project, which will work with disadvantaged parents in three metro mayoral regions using an app called EasyPeasy, a ‘Tots Talking’ programme promoting language development among two-year-olds most at risk of delayed speech, and by investing in parent champions on the ground;
  • National Literacy Trust (NLT) to improve the home learning environment through volunteering and digital support;
  • the Scouts Early Years Pilot Programme in partnership with Action for Children to create and test a national volunteer-led Early Years Scouts programme for children aged four and five;
  • the National Children’s Bureau’s consortium of organisations – including the Council for Disabled Children, Contact a Family, ICAN, The Communication Trust and NASEN – to work jointly across councils and with parents to encourage a culture shift in support for children with SEND, through improved training for professionals in speech, language and communication
  • Pre-School Learning Alliance’s (PSLA) First and Foremost programme, providing families with access to digital activities and support through the early years workforce;

£5 million for trials to be led by the Education Endowment Foundation in partnership with Shine the north of England that will research the best way to help parents in disadvantaged communities to start building their children’s skills at home, so that no child starts school behind their better-off peers. This investment will trial new and existing schemes, including

  • a text-message scheme for parents aimed at improving literacy, maths and social and emotional development, called TipsByText, based on a similar successful programme in the United States;

£1.8 million for a programme with Public Health England, including new speech, language and communication training for health visitors, delivered by the Institute of Health Visitors; and

£5 million for organisations to investigate what works through bespoke local projects focused on best practice in early language, literacy and maths, to build and share a stronger evidence base. A second round of projects applications has now opened.

Natasha Kaplinsky, broadcaster and co-founder of Mum&You, chairing the summit, said:

Being a parent is the most important job you can do, but it doesn’t come with an instruction manual. We are often our child’s first teacher, talking or playing together at home and encouraging their early development long before they start school – so the right support needs to be available for parents who may not feel confident about how to do this well.

I’m pleased to be chairing this summit, which is the start of an important national conversation about how we as a society can improve every child’s language, literacy and communication skills from the earliest opportunity.

Duncan Selbie, Chief Executive of Public Health England, said:

Every child deserves the best start in life and our work with the Department for Education to promote language and literacy at home will help more children develop the skills they need to reach their full potential.

Sir Kevan Collins, CEO of the Education Endowment Foundation, said:

Parents care very much about the future of their children, whatever their background or wherever they come from. But it can sometimes be difficult to get them involved in their child’s learning and we know little about how to do this well.

By testing different ways of improving the home learning environment – from texts to parents to home visits – these new trials will give us much needed information about how we can give parents the tools they need to give their child the very best start in life.

Christine Lenehan, Director Council for Disabled Children:

Early years are a key point of learning and intervention for children with SEN. We know if we can get in early, we can make a lifetime of difference. NCB and CDC are delighted to lead this work with our partners, and continue to ensure young children get the best possible outcomes.