House Price Index November 2006

Published	15 January 2007

The mix-adjusted average house price in the UK in November 2006 stood at £199,467, up from £197,987 in October 2006 (not seasonally adjusted).

Download this release as a PDF: House Price Index November 2006

The mix-adjusted average house price in the UK in November 2006 stood at £199,467, up from £197,987 in October 2006 (not seasonally adjusted).
UK annual house price inflation in November 2006 was 8.9 per cent, up from 8.6 per cent in October 2006. Annual house price inflation in London was 10.1 per cent in November 2006, down from 10.6 per cent in October 2006.
The UK annual house price inflation rate for the 3 months to November 2006 was 8.5 per cent and 9.9 per cent in London.

		UK		London		UK
		All dwellings		All dwellings		All dwellings
		Index	% change	Index	% change	£
		Feb 02 =	over 12	Feb 02 =	over 12
		100	months	100	months
			Not	seasonally	adjusted
2006	June	160.0	5.3	140.8	5.5	191,016
	July	162.7	5.9	144.1	7.0	194,273
	August	165.0	7.4	144.1	7.6	197,009
	September	166.3	8.0	146.4	9.0	198,552
	October	165.9	8.6	145.7	10.6	197,987
	November	167.1	8.9	146.9	10.1	199,467

HOUSE PRICE INFLATION: REGIONAL

The UK house price inflation rate rose from 8.6 per cent in October 2006 to 8.9 per cent in November 2006. Between October and November there was a rise of 0.7 per cent in the prices of properties bought compared with a smaller rise of 0.5 per cent over the same period last year resulting in an increase in the inflation rate.

The rise in UK prices between October and November can be attributed to rises in average prices for terraced houses (1.5 per cent), detached dwellings (0.9 per cent), semi-detached houses (0.6 per cent) and bungalows (0.1 per cent). The price of flats fell slightly (0.3 per cent).

In the home countries in November, England, Wales and Northern Ireland saw increases in inflation, while inflation fell in Scotland. The inflation rate in England rose from 7.9 per cent in October to 8.0 per cent in November; the inflation rate in Wales rose from 7.0 per cent to 10.5 per cent; in Northern Ireland the rate rose from 31.6 per cent to 36.6 per cent. In Scotland the rate fell slightly from 13.6 per cent to 13.4 per cent.

House price inflation rose in four of the English regions (North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, West Midlands and South East) and fell in five regions (North East, East Midlands, East, London and South West). The highest inflation rate was in the Yorkshire and the Humber (10.3 per cent) followed by London (10.1 per cent), North West (8.7 per cent) and South West (8.0 per cent). Inflation rates were lower in the South East (7.2 per cent), the West Midlands (7.0 per cent), and East and North East (both 6.4 per cent). The lowest inflation rate was in the East Midlands (5.2 per cent).

HOUSE PRICES: REGIONAL

Mix-adjusted average house prices in November were £206,990 in England, £161,285 in Wales, £144,842 in Scotland and £186,695 in Northern Ireland.

The English region with the highest average house price in November remains London at £291,006. The lowest average price was in the North East at £142,026.

Only the East, London, South East and the South West had average prices above the UK average.

HOUSE PRICE INFLATION: TYPE OF BUYER

The UK house price inflation rate for first time buyers rose from 8.5 per cent in October to 8.8 per cent in November. There was a rise of 0.5 per cent in prices between October and November in the properties bought by first time buyers compared with a rise of 0.2 per cent over the same period last year.

The inflation rate for former owner occupiers rose from 8.7 per cent in October to 9.0 per cent in November. There was a rise of 0.8 per cent in prices between October and November in the properties bought by former owner occupiers, compared with a rise of 0.6 per cent over the same period last year.

The average price paid by first time buyers across the whole of the UK was £153,906 in November, while the average price paid by former owner occupiers was £218,902.

TABLES

Tables are from May 2004 to November 2006.

A1: Mix-adjusted house price index and annual inflation by region
A2: Mix-adjusted average house prices by region
A3: Mix-adjusted house price index and annual inflation by type of buyer, UK
A4: Mix-adjusted average house prices by type of buyer, UK

Additional tables and earlier monthly data can be accessed in the 'Live tables' section (housing market) at /housingstatistics

Notes to editors

1. The mix-adjusted house price series are produced by Communities and Local Government and are being published on an experimental basis. Development of the methodology underpinning the indices has been undertaken in conjunction with the Office for National Statistics. The index will undergo a quality audit during 2007 with a view to gaining accreditation as a 'National Statistic'.

2. Since September 2005 the new mix-adjusted house price index is based on an enlarged sample of completions data (about 50,000 per month) from about 50 mortgage lenders who supply data through the Regulated Mortgage Survey (RMS) of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML)/BankSearch. Prior to this date the index was based on the Survey of Mortgage Lenders (SML) (about 25,000 completions per month). The number of cases received will also be affected by the total number of mortgages that have been completed.

3. In January of each year the index weights are revised to reflect the pattern of property transactions during the previous 3 years. The mix-adjusted average prices for the rest of the year are then determined using these new weights. Consequently whilst house prices within the year are comparable - they are all based on the same weights - house prices between years cannot be compared because last year's weights and this year's weights are different. The index itself is constructed on a chain-linked basis, which enables year-on-year comparisons to be made. This means that the year-on-year change in the index for November, say, is effectively the change in the average price from November 2005 to January 2006 (using last year's weights) combined with the change in the average price from January 2006 to November 2006 using this year's weights. Therefore, the year-on-year change in the index is not the same as the year-on-year change in the mix-adjusted average price.

4. The Communities and Local Government index is currently showing similar year-on-year inflation to other indices available from commercial sources. The slight difference will be affected by differences in weighting. The Communities and Local Government index uses expenditure weights, whereas other indices use transaction weights. Consequently, the Communities and Local Government index is influenced by house price inflation rates in the higher priced areas (which are currently in the South) where house prices - and therefore total expenditure on house buying - is highest. Similarly, regional inflation determined by the Communities and Local Government is more influenced by the market for the higher priced properties (i.e. the demand for detached houses).

5. Note that the Communities and Local Government house price index figures released in this issue are based on completions during the month of November. Other recent indicators have been based on asking prices in December or prices based on mortgages approved during December. Therefore the Communities and Local Government figures are not directly comparable with these other indicators.

6. A month on month comparison of the Communities and Local Government index and price is not advised, as the series are not seasonally adjusted and comparisons over periods of less than a year will be affected by seasonal fluctuations. The series will not be seasonally adjusted until a sufficiently long monthly series exists.

7. Further details on the methodology of the index can be found in the Publications section of Housing Statistics website, at /housingstatistics.

8. Further quarterly and annual house price data can be found on the Communities and Local Government web site in Live tables - Housing Market section, tables 507 and 508 and tables 590 to 594.

9. The next three release dates are: