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GB: Halifax House Price Index
| Actual | Previous | Revised | |
| Month over Month | 0.3% | 0.7% | 0.8% |
| Year over Year | 1.3% | 1.0% | 1.1% |
Highlights
The UK housing market appears to have regained momentum early in the year, with prices rising modestly in February after a stronger increase in January. The average property price has reached a new high of £301,151, suggesting that demand remains resilient despite ongoing affordability pressures. Annual growth has also strengthened slightly, indicating a gradual recovery from the softer conditions seen at the end of 2025.
However, the market remains uneven. Stronger price growth continues to be concentrated in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and northern regions of England, where housing remains relatively more affordable. In contrast, high-priced southern markets, particularly the South East and London, are experiencing price declines, reflecting greater sensitivity to borrowing costs and affordability constraints.
Although easing interest rates and rising real wages are beginning to support buyer confidence, structural challenges persist. Limited housing supply and high deposit requirements continue to make home ownership difficult, particularly for first-time buyers without financial support.
Looking ahead, the outlook remains uncertain. Geopolitical risks and inflation dynamics could slow the pace of interest rate cuts, meaning borrowing costs may decline more gradually than expected. This suggests the housing market's recovery may remain steady but fragile.
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.