Average house prices in the UK increased by 2.1% over the year to March, up from 2.0% in February, new data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the Land Registry has revealed.

The ONS stated there has been a general slowdown in UK house price growth over the past three years, driven mainly by a slowdown in the south and east of England, but that there has been a pick-up in annual growth since December 2019.

The data showed that average house prices increased over the year by 2.2% in England to £248,000, by 1.1% in Wales to £162,000, by 1.5% in Scotland to £152,000, and by 3.8% in Northern Ireland to £141,000.


London’s average house prices saw a rise of 4.7% over the year to March 2020, which is the largest 12-month growth the capital has seen since December 2016.

The UK House Price Index (HPI) is based on completed housing transactions, however, and given a house purchase can take six to eight weeks to reach completion, the ONS highlighted its price data feeding into the March 2020 UK HPI reflected completions that occurred before the Government imposed the measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

The ONS stated the UK House Price Index will be suspended until further notice from the April 2020 index, which is scheduled to be released on 17 June 2020.

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