UK house prices rose for the fifth consecutive month in November, climbing by 1.3 percent, 1.1 percentage points above the consensus forecast. This boosted annual growth to 4.8 percent, up from 4.0 percent in October and saw a new record average of £298,083.

Northern Ireland led regional growth with an impressive 6.8 percent annual rise, pushing average property prices to £203,131. Wales followed with a 4.1 percent annual increase, while the Northwest of England recorded the strongest growth among English regions at 5.9 percent. London remained the most expensive region, with an average property price of £545,439, up 3.5 percent year-over-year.

The data highlight improving buyer confidence, bolstered by stabilising mortgage rates and strong employment figures. However, affordability challenges persist, especially as borrowing costs remain above historical averages.

The latest update puts the UK RPI at minus 11 and the RPI-P at minus 35. This means that economic activity in general is running well behind market expectations.

The Halifax House Price Index (HPI) is the UK's longest running monthly house price measure with data covering the whole country going back to January 1983. The index is based on the largest monthly sample of mortgage data, typically covering around 15,000 house purchases per month, and covers the whole calendar month. In March 2016 Markit announced that it would be acquiring the Halifax HPI from Lloyds Banking Group. Halifax continues to publish the index on behalf of Markit and both the name and the basic methodology remain unchanged. However, in May 2020, the annual growth measure was changed from the average of the last three months to just the latest month.

Home values affect much in the economy - especially the housing and consumer sectors. Periods of rising home values encourage new construction while periods of soft home prices can damp housing starts. Changes in home values play key roles in consumer spending and in consumer financial health. During the first half of this decade sharply rising home prices boosted how much home equity households held. In turn, this increased consumers' ability to spend, based on wealth effects and from being able to draw upon expanding home equity lines of credit.