https://www.cmegroup.com/content/dam/cmegroup/images/common/default/article-940x600.jpg
GB: Halifax House Price Index
| Actual | Previous | Revised | |
| Month over Month | 0.7% | -0.6% | -0.5% |
| Year over Year | 1.0% | 0.3% | 0.4% |
Highlights
The UK housing market opened 2026 with a 0.7 percent rise in January prices, more than unwinding December's dip, lifting the average home price above £300,000 for the first time and nudging annual growth to 1.0 percent. The headline milestone matters symbolically, yet the underlying story is one of stabilisation after the volatility of the pandemic years. Price growth over the past three years has been modest compared with the surge seen between 2020 and 2023, reflecting the disciplining effect of higher interest rates and stretched affordability.
Supportive fundamentals are now re-emerging. Wage growth has outpaced house price inflation for over three years, and the return of sub-4 percent mortgage deals is easing pressure at the margin. These factors point to gradual, rather than rapid, price gains through 2026.
Regional divergence is the clearest feature of the market. Northern Ireland and Scotland continue to post strong annual growth, while northern English regions outperform the national average. Southern markets, particularly London and the South East, remain softer, reflecting greater sensitivity to borrowing costs. Overall, the market appears resilient, regionally uneven, and cautiously optimistic.
Definition
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.
Description
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.