House prices show monthly rise but annual fall

UK house prices have risen slightly on a monthly basis, but the overall trend is still downwards, according to the latest figures from the Land Registry.

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.

There has also been a large fall in the number of properties being bought and sold.

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.

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.

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