The UK HPI shows house price changes for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

England

In England, the April data shows on average, house prices have risen by 0.7% since March 2019. The annual price rise of 1.1% takes the average property value to £245,128.

The regional data for England indicates that:

• the North East experienced the greatest monthly price rise, up by 5%
• the West Midlands saw the most significant monthly price fall, down by 0.2%
• the East Midlands experienced the greatest annual price rise, up by 2.9%
• London saw the largest annual price fall, down by 1.2%

Price change by region for England

Repossession sales by volume for England

The lowest number of repossession sales in February 2019 was in the East of England.

The highest number of repossession sales in February 2019 was in the North West.

Average price by property type for England

Funding and buyer status for England

Building status for England

*Figures for the two most recent months are not being published because there are not enough new build transactions to give a meaningful result.

London

London shows, on average, house prices have risen by 2.4% since March 2019. An annual price fall of 1.2% takes the average property value to £471,504.

Average price by property type for London

Funding and buyer status for London

Building status for London

*Figures for the two most recent months are not being published because there are not enough new build transactions to give a meaningful result.

Wales

Wales shows, on average, house prices have risen by 2.4% since March 2019. An annual price rise of 6.7% takes the average property value to £163,902.

There were 48 repossession sales for Wales in February 2019.

Average price by property type for Wales

Funding and buyer status for Wales

Building status for Wales

*Figures for the two most recent months are not being published because there are not enough new build transactions to give a meaningful result.

Access the full UK HPI

UK house prices

UK house prices rose by 1.4% in the year to April 2019, down from 1.6% in the year to March 2019.

The UK Property Transaction Statistics for April 2019 showed that on a seasonally adjusted basis, the number of transactions on residential properties with a value of £40,000 or greater was 99,420. This is 0.8% higher compared to a year ago. Between March 2019 and April 2019, transactions decreased by 0.3%.

House prices grew fastest in the Wales increasing by 6.7% in the year to April 2019. House prices in London fell by 1.2% over the year to April 2019, up from a fall of 2.5% in March 2019.

See the economic statement.

Background

1. The UK House Price Index (HPI) is published on the second or third Wednesday of each month with Northern Ireland figures updated quarterly. The May 2019 UK HPI will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 17 July 2019. See calendar of release dates.

2. We have made some changes to improve the accuracy of the UK HPI. We are not publishing average price and percentage change for new builds and existing resold property as done previously because there are not currently enough new build transactions to provide a reliable result. This means that in this month’s UK HPI reports, new builds and existing resold property are reported in line with the sales volumes currently available.

3. The UK HPI revision period has been extended to 13 months, following a review of the revision policy (see calculating the UK HPI section 4.4). This ensures the data used is more comprehensive.

4. Sales volume data is also available by property status (new build and existing property) and funding status (cash and mortgage) in our downloadable data tables. Transactions involving the creation of a new register, such as new builds, are more complex and require more time to process. Read revisions to the UK HPI data.

5. Revision tables have been introduced for England and Wales within the downloadable data. Tables will be available in csv format. See about the UK HPI for more information.

6. Data for the UK HPI is provided by HM Land Registry, Registers of Scotland, Land & Property Services/Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and the Valuation Office Agency.

7. The UK HPI is calculated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) andLand & Property Services/Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. It applies a hedonic regression model that uses the various sources of data on property price, in particular HM Land Registry’s Price Paid Dataset, and attributes to produce estimates of the change in house prices each month. Find out more about the methodology used from the ONS and Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency.

8. The UK Property Transaction statisticsare taken from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) monthly estimates of the number of residential and non-residential property transactions in the UK and its constituent countries. The number of property transactions in the UK is highly seasonal, with more activity in the summer months and less in the winter. This regular annual pattern can sometimes mask the underlying movements and trends in the data series so HMRC also presents the UK aggregate transaction figures on a seasonally adjusted basis. Adjustments are made for both the time of year and the construction of the calendar, including corrections for the position of Easter and the number of trading days in a particular month.

9. UK HPI seasonally adjusted series are calculated at regional and national levels only. See data tables.

10. The first estimate for new build average price (April 2016 report) was based on a small sample which can cause volatility. A three-month moving average has been applied to the latest estimate to remove some of this volatility.

11. Work has been taking place since 2014 to develop a single, official HPI that reflects the final transaction price for sales of residential property in the UK. Using the geometric mean, it covers purchases at market value for owner-occupation and buy-to-let, excluding those purchases not at market value (such as re-mortgages), where the ‘price’ represents a valuation.

12. Information on residential property transactions for England and Wales, collected as part of the official registration process, is provided by HM Land Registry for properties that are sold for full market value.

13. The HM Land Registry dataset contains the sale price of the property, the date when the sale was completed, full address details, the type of property (detached, semi-detached, terraced or flat), if it is a newly built property or an established residential building and a variable to indicate if the property has been purchased as a financed transaction (using a mortgage) or as a non-financed transaction (cash purchase).

14. Repossession sales data is based on the number of transactions lodged with HM Land Registry by lenders exercising their power of sale.

15. For England, this is shown as volumes of repossession sales recorded by Government Office Region. For Wales, there is a headline figure for the number of repossession sales recorded in Wales.

16. The data can be downloaded as a .csv file. Repossession sales data prior to April 2016 is not available. Find out more information about repossession sales.

17. Background tables of the raw and cleansed aggregated data, in Excel and CSV formats, are also published monthly although Northern Ireland is on a quarterly basis. They are available for free use and re-use under the Open Government Licence.

18. HM Land Registry’s mission is to guarantee and protect property rights in England and Wales.

19. HM Land Registry is a government department created in 1862. It operates as an executive agency and a trading fund and its running costs are covered by the fees paid by the users of its services. Its ambition is to become the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data.

20. HM Land Registry safeguards land and property ownership worth in excess of £7 trillion, including over £1 trillion of mortgages. The Land Register contains more than 25 million titles showing evidence of ownership for some 86% of the land mass of England and Wales.

21. For further information about HM Land Registry visit www.gov.uk/land-registry

22. Follow us on Twitter, our blog, LinkedIn and Facebook

The UK HPI shows house price changes for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A Spalding company director who submitted fraudulent insurance claims for stolen agricultural equipment has received a 12-year bankruptcy restrictions order.

Under the conditions of the order, Christopher James Dawson (36) of Spalding, Lincolnshire, is unable to borrow more than £500 without telling a lender that he is subject to extended restrictions, or act as a company director without the court’s permission for 12 years.

The court heard that Christopher Dawson was appointed joint director of CJ & KE Dawson Agric Services Limited in August 2012, and sole director of CJ Dawson & Sons Limited in November 2014. Both companies provided agricultural and farming contractual services to local clients.

On 27 February 2016 and 9 May 2016, Christopher Dawson submitted insurance claims, one from each company, totalling almost £35,000. In the claims, he explained that agricultural equipment, a tractor and three trailers, had been stolen.

The claims were paid out but the insurer became concerned over the second claim and withheld part of the payout while investigations were undertaken.

In an interview with a private investigator on behalf of the insurer, Christopher Dawson admitted that the claims had been false. It emerged that the company had been unable to pay its creditors, and so the agricultural equipment was seized in lieu of payment.

Although Christopher Dawson agreed to repay the insurer, he had already spent the money on day-to-day company running costs, and only £1,100 was received by the insurer.

Legal proceedings were issued against him in November 2017 with a judgement in favour of the insurer being made in February 2018. Christopher Dawson was made personally liable for the insurance payout and ordered to cover the insurer’s legal costs.

Unable to pay the judgement order, bankruptcy proceedings were filed against Christopher Dawson and he was declared bankrupt in August 2018.

Bankruptcy restrictions are usually lifted after 12 months but, given the nature of Christopher Dawson’s conduct, the Official Receiver applied to have his bankruptcy restrictions extended.

On 17 May 2019 in the County Court at Lincoln, sitting for the County Court at Boston, Deputy District Judge Cooper made a Bankruptcy Restrictions Order against Christopher Dawson for 12 years to last until 16 May 2031.

Christopher Dawson did not attend the hearing.

Gerard O’Hare, Official Receiver for the Insolvency Service, said:

This kind of behaviour from a company director is unacceptable, and it is only fitting that Christopher Dawson has received such severe bankruptcy restrictions in recognition of this.

This result will protect the business community, and act as a warning to other directors of the penalties for fraud.

Christopher James Dawson is of Spalding and his date of birth is May 1983.

CJ & KE Dawson Agric Services Limited (Company number 08183804).

C J DAWSON & SONS LIMITED (Company number 09330368).

These are restrictions set out in insolvency law that the bankrupt is subject to until they are discharged from bankruptcy. Further guidance is available on GOV.UK.

The Insolvency Service, an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), administers the insolvency regime, and aims to deliver and promote a range of investigation and enforcement activities both civil and criminal in nature, to support fair and open markets. We do this by effectively enforcing the statutory company and insolvency regimes, maintaining public confidence in those regimes and reducing the harm caused to victims of fraudulent activity and to the business community, including dealing with the disqualification of directors in corporate failures. Further information about the work of the Insolvency Service, and how to complain about financial misconduct, is available.

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