UK House Price Index (HPI) annual review 2017
House prices measured by the UK House Price Index grew more slowly in 2017 compared with 2016. The UK annual growth rate for the year as a whole was 4.8% – compared with a 7% increase in the previous year. However, while house price growth slowed in 2017, transaction volumes for house purchases remained steady.
The slowdown at the national level does not fully highlight a wide variation in growth rates between regions and countries. Figure 1 below compares the annual growth rate for selected regions and countries for 2016 and 2017. For some the change between 2016 and 2017 is relatively small; by comparison, the annual growth in the south of England has nearly halved from 9.5% in 2016 to 5.1% in 2017.
While the southern regions of England may have started to experience slower house price growth during 2017, there remains a large difference in terms of average house price levels across different regions. The average house price in the North East in December 2017 was £131,000 compared with £484,000 in London.
The slowdown in the south of England is most evident in London. Historically, house price growth in London has consistently been above that of the UK. However, since March 2016 there has been a sharp levelling in the London house price annual growth rate which has continued to steady through 2017. As seen in Figure 2, for the whole of 2017 the UK house price annual growth rate has exceeded that of London.
While London house prices are now increasing at a much slower rate than seen historically it still remains by far the most expensive region of the UK. The average London house price in December 2017 was £484,000, more than double that of the UK average house price in December of £227,000.
Finally, the local area showing the largest annual growth in 2017 was Tendring, a district in north-east Essex where prices increased by 11.8%.
The lowest annual growth was recorded in the City of Aberdeen, where prices fell by 6.1%.
Biggest rise of UK local authorities, by annual growth in 2017
| Local authorities | % change | Average price (£) |
| Tendring | 11.8 | 212,000 |
| Corby | 10.7 | 171,000 |
| East Northamptonshire | 10.2 | 222,000 |
| Hinckley and Bosworth | 10.1 | 204,000 |
| Salford | 10.1 | 152,000 |
Biggest fall of UK local authorities, by annual growth in 2017
| Local authorities | % change | Average price (£) |
| City of Aberdeen | -6.1 | 165,000 |
| Aberdeenshire | -1.7 | 192,000 |
| Hyndburn | -0.7 | 92,000 |
| City of London | -0.6 | 810,000 |
| Brent | -0.5 | 487,000 |
Kindly shared by Land Registry
