Housing market: Economic indicators

Economic indicators are quick-read summaries of the latest data focusing on different aspects of the UK economy. The full suite of indicators can be found on the main Economic Indicators page.

House prices

House prices, as measured by the UK House Price Index, increased by 0.9% between August 2025 and August 2026. On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices decreased by 0.2% between July 2026 and August 2026.

House prices changed at different rates across the UK over the year to August 2026. Excluding Northern Ireland, house prices grew fastest in the North East and Wales. Prices in Northern Ireland grew faster but they are measured over a different period (the year to Q2 of 2026) which means they are affected by changes to stamp duty in April 2025. House prices fell in London and the South East.

source: UK House Price Index: data downloads August 2026, index seasonally adjusted

Mortgage approvals

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 in August 2026 were down 16% on a year ago and down 2% on July 2026.

There were 54,918 mortgage approvals in August 2026, compared with 65,364 in August 2025.

source: Bank of England. Series LPMVTVX

Housing starts and completions

There were 35,910 house building starts (seasonally adjusted) in England in Q2 2026, a 6% increase compared with the previous quarter, and a 20% increase compared with the same quarter of 2025. This is in part due to the Building Safety Regulator reporting more starts, following reforms to accelerate house building.

There were 35,800 house building completions (seasonally adjusted) in England in Q2 2026, a 3% decrease compared with the previous quarter, and a 1% increase compared with the same quarter of 2025.

There was a peak of 68,330 starts in Q2 2023, largely due to house builders bringing forward the start of work to avoid new building regulatory standards. This lowered starts in subsequent quarters. The new standards relate to energy performance and electric vehicle charging points and were introduced from 15 June 2023.

source: MHCLG. Table 222: permanent dwellings started and completed, by tenure, England (quarterly seasonally adjusted)

Next updates

This page is updated when new data is published. The next source updates will be:

• UK house price index (HM Land Registry), 18 November 2026

• Money and credit (Bank of England), 29 October 2026

• House-building (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), December 2026