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Land Registry house price index June 2023 - reaction

ended 16. August 2023

The Land Registry house price index for June 2023 is just out. Full report here, key points below. UK news agency, Newspage, sought the views of property and mortgage experts.

  • Average UK house prices increased by 1.7% in the 12 months to June 2023 (provisional estimate), down from a revised 1.8% in May 2023. 
  • The average UK house price was £288,000 in June 2023, which is £5,000 higher than 12 months ago, but £5,000 below the recent peak in November 2022. 
  • Average house prices increased over the 12 months to June 2023, to £306,000 in England (1.9%), £213,000 in Wales (0.6%) and £174,000 in Northern Ireland (2.7%), while average Scotland house prices (£189,000) remained little changed (0.0%). 
  • The North East saw the highest annual percentage change of all English regions in the 12 months to June 2023 (4.7%), while London saw the lowest (negative 0.6%).

8 responses from the Newspage community

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Ross Boyd
CEO at Dashly.com
This latest house price data shows the complete reversal in momentum in the property market compared to a year ago. Summer 2022 feels like an age ago compared to where we are at now. Significantly higher mortgage rates have torpedoed the property market. London, based on this evidence, has been the hardest hit. With core inflation remaining sticky, another base rate hike is now likely, so the downward pressure on house prices looks set to continue throughout 2023.
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Samuel Mather-Holgate
Independent Financial Adviser at Mather and Murray Financial
With regular depressing economic data hitting the headlines, it's no surprise that house prices are stagnant. The capital, with the highest house prices in the UK, has been hardest hit and there will be more pain to come as recent interest rate increases haven't taken effect in these figures. With inflation falling significantly today it's possible the central bank might pivot on rates towards the end of the year, but there will have been a deep correction of up to 20% in prices if they delay further than that.
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Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
The data reveals unexpected resilience in the housing sector, as the housing market will continue to be supported due to the provisions in the Mortgage Charter. London, with its higher average prices, unsurprisingly seems to bear the most impact. This picture does not reflect what we are seeing on the ground and the results in the coming months may not be as positive.
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Ranald Mitchell
Director at bad credit mortgage specialists Charwin Mortgages
The UK property market is resilient and this data shows that. Average UK house prices remain £5,000 higher year on year, but slightly lower than the peak in November 2022. This is during a period where rates have surged and costs of borrowing spiked. Regional fluctuations are normal and it is no surprise to see growth of 4.7% in the North East, with many buy-to-let investors turning their attention there. Q4 data will be telling, as we continue to look over our shoulders at what's just happened in the mortgage and property market.
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Justin Moy
Managing Director at EHF Mortgages
Some of the trends highlighted are a little misleading, as average prices might just reflect a different subset of properties sold during the reporting period, and doesn't indicate any activity numbers, just prices. This data is also some months behind the actual position in August, given we are some 2% more expensive for mortgage rates between April and August. As an overall assessment though it shows just how quickly our property market has slowed down, and the pressure on prices throughout the UK. We are still at the beginning of the mortgage rate challenges and the effect of base rate increases, which does not bode well for the property market.
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Jamie Lennox
Director at Dimora Mortgages
The concern around this data is that it has such a huge lag on what is going on in the trenches of the housing market, With the average purchase transaction taking 3-4 months, these purchases will have originally been agreed when mortgage pricing was on a downward trend. With the base rate jumping dramatically since then, we are likely to see less favourable figures in the months to come.
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Ross McMillan
Owner/Mortgage Advisor at Blue Fish Mortgage Solutions
Even allowing for the usual lag in data, these figures further burst the bubbles of the doomsayers forecasting or perhaps hoping for house price crashes with gradual increases or stability of prices evident across the majority of areas, underlining once more the incredibly robust nature of the UK housing market. The data confirms that across all areas of the UK, prices have broadly held the significant surge in prices seen since pre-pandemic times and although a flattening of rises may well begin to filter through in coming months, there appears no evidence to support the notion of double-digit falls that many appear to have been predicting. In Scotland specifically, an average house price of £189k is steady and roughly 20% higher than in 2020. Whilst supply remains restricted and demand, particularly from first-time buyers steadfastly strong and unquenchable, it seems not even higher interest rates can knock the stuffing out of this market.
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Neezam Romjon
Co-Founder at Rebus Financial Services
As a mortgage adviser who champions first-time buyers, I don't see these figures as encouraging for those aiming to buy their first home in the foreseeable future. Although growth has slowed for June (YOY) an average UK house price of £288,000 is still making it an unobtainable aspiration for people on average incomes, mostly due to the huge gap between prices and mortgage borrowing capacity. The knowledge that the average house price is £5,000 below the peak in November 22 may offer some temporary relief, but something still needs to be offered to support more first time buyers getting a foot on the ladder.