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, as measured by the UK House Price Index, increased by 4.6% between December 2023 and December 2024. On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices increased by 0.3% between November and December 2024.

House prices changed at different rates across the UK’s countries and regions over the year to December. House prices grew fastest in Northern Ireland, Scotland and the North East. Northern Ireland’s house prices are measured over a different period (the year to Q4 of 2024). House prices were flat in London and grew slowest in Wales and the South West.

source: UK House Price Index: data downloads December 2024, index seasonally adjusted

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 are now lower. Mortgage approvals for house purchases in January 2025 were up 18% on a year ago but broadly unchanged from December 2024.

There were 66,189 mortgage approvals in January 2025, compared with 55,941 in January 2024.

source: Bank of England. Series LPMVTVX

Housing starts and completions fell sharply during the Covid-19 lockdown but recovered since.  

There were 36,580 house building completions (seasonally adjusted) in England in Q3 2024 a 13% decrease compared with Q2 2024, and a 12% decrease compared with Q3 2023.

There were 29,310 house building starts (seasonally adjusted) in Q3 2024, a 17% increase compared with Q2 2024, and a 38% increase compared with Q3 2023. This unusually low amount is likely due to house builders bringing forward projects to avoid the costs of complying with new building regulatory standards, which caused a peak of 66,060 starts in Q2 2023. 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), 26 March 2025

• Money and credit (Bank of England), 31 March 2025

• House-building (Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government), 27 March 2025