Accredited official statistics

UK House Price Index summary: April 2023

Published 21 June 2023

1. Headline statistics for April 2023

The average price of a property in the UK was £286,489

The annual price change for a property in the UK was 3.5%

The monthly price change for a property in the UK was 0.5%

The monthly index figure (January 2015 = 100) for the UK was 150.3

Estimates for the most recent months are provisional and are likely to be updated as more data is incorporated into the index. Read Revisions to the UK HPI data.

Next publication of UK HPI

The May 2023 UK HPI will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 19 July 2023. See the calendar of release dates for more information.

2. Economic statement

The annual percentage change for average UK house prices was 3.5% in the 12 months to April 2023, compared with 4.1% in the 12 months to March 2023.

The average UK house price was £286,000 in April 2023, which is £9,000 higher than 12 months ago, but £7,000 below the recent peak in September 2022. Average house prices increased over the 12 months to £306,000 (3.7%) in England, to £213,000 in Wales (2.0%), to £187,000 in Scotland (2.0%) and to £172,000 in Northern Ireland (5.0%).

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, average UK house prices increased by 0.5% between March 2023 and April 2023, while average UK house prices increased by 1.1% during the same period 12 months ago.

Annual house price inflation was highest in the North East where prices increased by 5.5% in the 12 months to April 2023. London was the English region with the lowest annual growth, where prices increased by 2.4% in the 12 months to April 2023.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS’) April 2023 UK Residential Market Survey reported a fall in demand. When disaggregated, virtually all parts of the UK recorded either a negative or flat trend in home buyer demand, with the exception of Northern Ireland where a marginal rise was reported.

The Bank of England’s Agents summary of business conditions 2023 Q1 reported a modest pick-up in secondary market activity and requests for valuations, but said that demand was broadly equal to the supply of properties available.

The UK Property Transactions Statistics showed that in April 2023, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the estimated number of transactions of residential properties with a value of £40,000 or greater was 82,120. This is 25.1% lower than 12 months ago (April 2022). Between March 2023 and April 2023, UK transactions decreased by 7.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The Bank of England’s Money and Credit April 2023 release reported that mortgage approvals for house purchases, an indicator of future borrowing, decreased to 48,700 in April 2023, from 51,500 in March 2023.

3. Price changes

3.1 Annual price change

Annual price change for UK by country over the past 5 years

Average house prices in the UK increased by 3.5% in the 12 months to April 2023, down from 4.1% in March 2023.

At the country level, the highest annual house price percentage change in the 12 months to April 2023 was recorded in England, where house prices increased by 3.7%.

Wales saw house prices increase by 2.0% in the 12 months to April 2023.

Scotland saw houses prices increase by 2.0% in the 12 months to April 2023.

Northern Ireland saw house prices increase by 5.0% over the 12 months to Quarter 1 (January to March) 2023.

3.2 Average price by country and government office region

Price, monthly change and annual change by country and government office region

Country and government office region Price Monthly change Annual change
England £305,731 0.5% 3.7%
Northern Ireland (Quarter 1 - 2023) £172,005 -1.8% 5.0%
Scotland £187,150 1.3% 2.0%
Wales £212,834 -1.3% 2.0%
East Midlands £247,634 0.3% 4.6%
East of England £351,468 -0.4% 3.1%
London £533,687 2.1% 2.4%
North East £159,900 1.8% 5.5%
North West £212,814 0.7% 4.8%
South East £391,766 -0.5% 3.5%
South West £327,144 0.2% 4.0%
West Midlands Region £246,765 0.8% 3.1%
Yorkshire and The Humber £205,523 1.0% 4.0%

Price changes by country and government office region

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in the UK increased by 0.5% between March 2023 and April 2023. This was down from an increase of 1.1% during the same period 12 months ago (March 2022 and April 2022). On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in the UK increased by 0.4% between March 2023 and April 2023.

Note: The Northern Ireland figure represents a 3-month change and is not comparable with the other regions and countries.

3.3 Average price by property type

Average monthly price by property type

Property type April 2023 April 2022 Difference
Detached £453,771 £435,539 4.2%
Semi-detached £278,729 £266,838 4.5%
Terraced £231,525 £226,660 2.1%
Flat or maisonette £229,752 £223,686 2.7%
All £286,489 £276,917 3.5%

4. Sales volumes

The amount of time between the sale of a property and the registration of this information varies. It typically ranges between 2 weeks and 2 months but can be longer. Volume figures for the most recent 2 months are not yet at a reliable level for reporting, so they are not included in the report. Published transactions for recent months will increase as later registered transactions are incorporated into the index.

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 for more information.

4.1 Sales volumes

Number of sales volumes by country

Comparing the provisional volume estimate for the current month with the revised volume estimate for the corresponding month in the previous year

Country February 2023 February 2022
England 35,843 58,578
Northern Ireland (Quarter 1 - 2023) 1,427 1,953
Scotland 5,365 6,547
Wales 2,001 3,423

Note: Comparing the provisional volume estimate for the current month with the revised 12-month volume estimate.

Note: The ‘Difference’ column has been removed from this table as the latest month’s data are not yet complete.

Note: The number of property transactions for February 2023 will increase as more transactions are incorporated into the index. See our Revisions Policy for more information.

Comparing the provisional UK HPI volume estimate for February 2022 with the provisional UK HPI volume estimate for February 2023, volume transactions decreased by 19.0% in England, decreased by 16.6% in Scotland and decreased by 25.2% in Wales. Northern Ireland’s UK HPI volume transactions decreased by 21.3% in the year to Quarter 1 2023.

UK Property Transaction Statistics published by HM Revenue & Customs (which differ in coverage but are more complete for this period) report that on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, in the 12 months to February 2023 HMRC volume transactions decreased by 19.8% in England, decreased by 26.7% in Wales, decreased by 16.7% in Scotland, and decreased by 23.6% in Northern Ireland.

4.2 Sales volumes for the UK over the past 5 years

Sales volumes for 2019 to 2023 by country: February

Note: The number of property transactions for February 2023 will increase as more transactions are incorporated into the UK HPI index. See our Revisions Policy for more information.

Comparing the provisional UK HPI volume estimate for February 2022 with the provisional UK HPI volume estimate for February 2023, UK volume transactions decreased by 19.1%.

UK Property Transaction Statistics published by HM Revenue & Customs (which differ in coverage but are more complete for this period) report that on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, UK HMRC volume transactions decreased by 20.1% in the 12 months to February 2023.

5. Property status for UK

Transactions involving the creation of a new register, such as new builds, are more complex and need more time to process. This means they can take longer to appear in the land registers. The volume of new build transactions for the most recent 2 months are not at a reliable level for reporting the breakdown between new build and existing resold property, so they are not included in the report.

New build and existing resold property

Property status Average price February 2023 Monthly change Annual change
New build £419,943 8.6% 23.2%
Existing resold property £279,734 -0.8% 4.6%

Note: Since the October 2017 release, amendments have been made to our estimation model when calculating our provisional estimate. Find out further information and the impact of this change in the methods used to produce the UK HPI.

6. Buyer status for Great Britain

First time buyer and former owner occupier

For Great Britain only, Northern Ireland data is not available for buyer status.

Type of buyer Average price April 2023 Monthly change Annual change
First time buyer £238,114 0.6% 3.3%
Former owner occupier £336,056 0.5% 3.7%

7. Funding status for Great Britain

Cash and mortgage

For Great Britain only, Northern Ireland data is not available for funding status.

Funding status Average price April 2023 Monthly change Annual change
Cash £271,170 0.6% 3.1%
Mortgage £299,022 0.5% 3.7%

8. Access the data

Download the data as CSV files or access it with our UK HPI tool.

Data revisions

View any revisions to previously published data in the data downloads or find out more about revisions in our guidance About the UK HPI.

9. About the UK House Price Index

The UK House Price Index (UK HPI) is calculated by the Office for National Statistics and Land & Property Services Northern Ireland. Find out about the methodology used to create the UK HPI.

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

Find out more about the UK House Price Index.

10. Contact

Eileen Morrison, Data Services Team Leader, HM Land Registry

Email eileen.morrison@landregistry.gov.uk

Telephone 0300 006 5288

Aimee North, Head of Housing Market Indices, Office for National Statistics

Email aimee.north@ons.gov.uk

Telephone 01633 456400

Ciara Cunningham, Statistician for the Northern Ireland HPI

Email ciara.cunningham@finance-ni.gov.uk

Telephone 028 90 336035

Anne MacDonald, Land & Property Data Team, Registers of Scotland

Email Anne.MacDonald@ros.gov.uk

Telephone 0131 378 4991