The UK Land Registry House Price Index (HPI) has revealed that between January and February 2024, house prices saw a 0.4% rise month on month with the average property priced at £280,660.

Annually there was a fall of 0.2% - this brings the average UK property value to £281,000. New build property, however, saw an annual increase of 16.4%. Existing resold property wasn’t quite as prosperous, and saw a 2.5% decline year on year (0.5% drop month on month).

About the UK House Price Index (HPI)

Each month the Office of National Statistics calculates the house sale data from HM Land Registry, Registers of Scotland, and Land and Property Services Northern Ireland and this forms the HPI total. According to the land registry website: “the index applies a statistical method, called a hedonic regression model, to the various sources of data on property price and attributes to produce estimates of the change in house prices each period”.

Interested parties can view current and historical House Price Index data here. Data is available from 1995 for England and Wales, 2004 for Scotland, and 2005 for Northern Ireland. A longer back-series has been derived by using the historic path of the Office for National Statistics HPI to construct a series back to 1968.

Property industry reactions to the latest UK House Price Index

Mobeen Akram, new homes director at the Mortgage Advice Bureau commented:

“From these statistics, it’s clear that the ‘wait and see’ approach is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Instead, buyers are now sticking their heads above the parapet and taking decisive action towards getting mortgage ready.”

Jeremy Leaf, estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman said:

"Sellers have also been busy and the net result is more choice while prices are up a bit and down a bit – a pattern we expect to continue over the next few months."

Dan Richards, CEO at Onyx says:

“After a tumultuous year, with the housing market being largely unpredictable and the Bank of England base rate constantly rising until it stabilised in August last year, it is great to see the light at the end of the tunnel with this house price rise. Long may it continue”.

Rightmove House Price Index

In an alternative study, the Rightmove House Price Index has also recorded what it described as a “near record high” in its asking prices this month. It states that more sellers are coming to the market which has resulted in a hike in the sales that are being agreed.

Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, stated:

“With many buyers and sellers keen to start buying their next dream home during a brighter period of the year, they can do so knowing that their homes are increasing in value yet again, and this is even though interest rates remain the same in order to stabilise the economy following surging inflation.
“People are demonstrating a pragmatic attitude towards current market conditions and our own Housing Insight Reports are a key indication of how positive the market is starting to look, with an 18 per cent increase in new properties coming to the market. Approvals for remortgaging also increased, from 30,900 to 37,700 since February, according to the Bank of England’s Money and Credit report. Therefore, if you want to buy your next house, now is the best time to do so.”

Onyx Property Finance are experts in providing financial solutions for property developers and investors. We are dedicated to keeping on top of market trends and ensuring our customers are kept informed of any changes that might affect their borrowing, projects, and investments – see our blog for all the latest insights.

Speak to an expert today and get up to 100% of your purchase and build costs with fixed interest rates for the lifetime of your loan: info@onyxmoney.co.uk.