UK house-price growth slowed to 0.9% in the year through August while private rents rose 3.8% through September, showing a sharper increase in rental costs than purchase prices, official data showed.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) put the provisional average UK house price at £273,000. The August annual rate followed a revised 1.2% in July and marked the fourth consecutive monthly slowdown. Annual house-price growth was 0.0% in March.
Regional figures varied. Prices in London fell 2.2% from a year earlier, while the North East recorded a 3.2% rise, the strongest among England’s nine regions. England’s average rose 0.4%, compared with 3.1% in Wales and 2.9% in Scotland. Northern Ireland’s latest figure, for the second quarter, showed a 9.2% annual increase.
London’s decline was linked to flats, whose prices fell 5.0% over the year. Flats account for about half of property sales in London, compared with roughly one-fifth across Great Britain, ONS said. The figures add detail to earlier coverage of regional UK house-price trends.
From July to August, prices increased 0.3% before seasonal adjustment but decreased 0.2% after it. ONS said the August annual measure reflected a weaker comparison with summer 2025. Annual growth also slowed in six of England’s nine regions.
The ONS’s September estimate for monthly private rent was £1,406, or £52 above a year earlier. The annual growth rate held at August’s 3.8%. The rent figure is provisional: Northern Ireland’s data were available only through July, so ONS estimated the latest two months for the UK total.
Year-over-year comparisons were also affected by Stamp Duty Land Tax changes. ONS said the annual house-price rate rose from 0.0% in March to 3.8% in April because prices increased moderately in spring 2026 while falling sharply in the same period of 2025 after tax changes in England and Northern Ireland. The agency said a similar base effect followed stamp duty changes in 2021.
HM Land Registry scheduled the September 2026 UK House Price Index release for Nov. 18 at 9:30 a.m. GMT.
