House Prices

• According to the UK House Price Index, house prices increased by 3.9% between May 2024 and May 2025.
• On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices rose by 0.7% from April to May 2025. This follows a decline in the previous month, which was largely due to buyers rushing to complete purchases before Stamp Duty Land Tax changes took effect on April 1, 2025.
• Over the year to May 2025, house prices grew fastest in Scotland and the North East of England.
• Northern Ireland also saw faster house price growth, though its data is measured over a different period (the year to Q1 2025).
• The slowest house price growth was in the South West, South East, and London.

Mortgage Approvals

• Mortgage approvals for house purchases are considered a leading indicator of house sales.
• In June 2025, there were 64,167 mortgage approvals for house purchases, which is a 6% increase compared to June 2024, when there were 60,761 approvals.
• This also represents a 1% increase from May 2025.
• Mortgage approvals had reached a lockdown-related record low in May 2020 but increased significantly towards the end of 2020 before becoming lower.

House Building

• Housing starts and completions fell sharply during the COVID-19 lockdown but have since recovered.
• In Q1 2025, there were 28,180 seasonally adjusted house building starts in England. This was a 9% decrease from the previous quarter but a 22% increase compared to the same quarter in 2024.
• House building starts peaked at 67,740 in Q2 2023. This was largely due to builders bringing forward work to avoid new regulatory standards on energy performance and electric vehicle charging points that were introduced on June 15, 2023. This peak led to a decrease in starts in subsequent quarters.
• There were 36,180 seasonally adjusted house building completions in England in Q1 2025. This was a 2% decrease from the previous quarter and a 5% decrease compared to the same quarter in 2024.