What’s happening with UK house prices? Latest property forecasts for 2026
With mortgage rates creeping back up and ongoing market volatility, can we expect house prices to slide?
The UK housing market remains subdued as property price growth continues to languish.
Mortgage rates have ticked up in recent months following tensions in the Middle East. The average two-year fixed rate deal is 5.61% as of 14 August compared with 4.83% on 27 February, according to financial data firm Moneyfacts.
A glut of homes for sale has given buyers more room to squeeze prices down as well. Property portal Rightmove said the supply of available homes in July 2026 was close to a 12-year high for that time of year.
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How much can you now expect to pay for a house?
We look at the latest data from the major house price indices, including Lloyds, Nationwide and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Zoopla, as well as Rightmove for asking prices.
Each house price index (HPI) report varies, although the main indices put the average UK house price at roughly between £270,000 and £365,000.
That said, these are UK average prices, and prices can vary dramatically depending on the region and methodology of each HPI.
HM Land Registry UK House Price Index
The most authoritative house price index is HM Land Registry, as its data includes cash purchases as well as homes financed through a mortgage. Data is published on a six-week time lag, making it more retrospective than other house price indices.
According to the latest data from the Land Registry, the average house price is £271,295 as of May 2026, up by 0.3% from April 2026.
Nationwide House Price Index
The most recent Nationwide data puts the average UK house price at £277,542 as of July 2026.
Annual house price growth slowed to 1.8% annually, down from 2.2% in June, although prices were broadly flat on a monthly basis, taking into account seasonal effects (activity typically picking up over summer, for example).
Lloyds House Price Index
The latest Lloyds HPI, renamed after it retired the Halifax brand, shows the average UK house price is £299,253 as of July 2026, a fractional fall from £299,330 in June 2026.
Rightmove House Price Index
Unlike Nationwide and Halifax’s HPIs, which are based on the building society and bank’s valuations at the mortgage-approval stage, Rightmove’s HPI is based on asking prices.
According to Rightmove, asking prices fell by 2% in the month to August from £372,359 to £364,999, the largest August drop since 2018.
Zoopla House Price Index
The Zoopla HPI uses sold prices, mortgage valuations and data for agreed sales to calculate house prices for any given month.
According to Zoopla’s latest data, UK house price inflation slowed to 1.3% in June, down from 1.7% in May.
The average UK house price is now £272,800, the property website said.
How much confidence is there in the market?
As well as the five main house price indices, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) also publishes a monthly UK Residential Market Survey.
The survey generates net balance scores between -100 and +100 in response to a series of questions put to its members (estate agents and surveyors) about how the housing market has changed for better or worse.
The latest survey, covering the month of July, reveals the market remains subdued with house prices facing downward pressure.
The new buyer enquiries metric scored a net balance of -28% for the second consecutive month while the agreed sales metric read -30%, unchanged from the month before.
However, near-term sales expectations are showing signs of improving, showing a -14% reading in July, up from -16% in June.
Will house prices rise in 2026 and beyond?
In January, estate agents and economists were relatively positive about prospects for UK housing growth in 2026, but now are more pessimistic.
Economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics believe house prices will rise by just 1% in 2026, after previously forecasting they would rise by 3%.
Estate agents Savills is forecasting a 2% drop this year, while Knight Frank recently suggested there will be more “downward pressure” on prices despite forecasting growth of 1.5% for 2026 earlier in the year.
Similarly, Zoopla has said annual house price inflation was around 1.4% in the first half of the year and is expected to ease towards 1% over the next six months.
