Housing Market: Key Economic Indicators

House prices, as measured by the UK House Price Index, decreased by 0.1% between September 2022 and September 2023. On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices decreased by 0.5% between August 2023 and September 2023.

House prices grew at different rates across the UK’s countries and regions over the year to September. House prices grew fastest in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Yorkshire and the North East. Although, Northern Ireland’s house prices are measured over a different period (the year to quarter 3 of 2023). House prices fell fastest in Wales, the South West, the South East and the East of England.

Bank of England data on the number of mortgages approved to finance house purchases are a leading indicator of house sales.

Mortgage approvals for house purchases reached a lockdown-related record low in May 2020. Approvals then increased significantly towards the end of 2020 but have fallen since. Mortgage approvals for house purchases in October 2023 were down 17% on a year ago and up 8% on September 2023.

There were 47,383 mortgage approvals in October 2023, compared with 57,145  in October 2022.

Housing starts and completions fell sharply in Q2 2020 reflecting the coronavirus lockdown. They are now higher.

There were 67,600 house building starts (seasonally adjusted) in England in Q2 2023. This was an unusually high peak which is likely to be caused by house builders choosing to bring forward the start of projects to avoid the costs of complying with new building regulatory standards. The new standards, which relate to energy performance and electric vehicle charging point, were introduced from 15 June 2023.

There were 39,620 house building completions (seasonally adjusted) in England in Q2 2023. This is stable when compared with the previous quarter and a 12% decrease compared with the same quarter of 2022.