Spotlight
Private rent and house prices, UK: May 2025
What's in the bulletin?
- Average UK monthly private rents increased by 7.4%, to £1,335, in the 12 months to April 2025 (provisional estimate); this annual growth rate is down from 7.7% in the 12 months to March 2025.
- Average rents increased to £1,390 (7.5%) in England, £795 (8.7%) in Wales, and £999 (5.1%) in Scotland, in the 12 months to April 2025.
- In Northern Ireland, average rents increased to £843 (7.8%) in the 12 months to February 2025.
Housing affordability in England and Wales: 2024
What's in the bulletin?
- In 2024, the median average home in England, at £290,000, cost 7.7 times the median average earnings of a full-time employee (£37,600); in Wales the average home (£201,000) was 5.9 times annual earnings (£34,300).
- Affordability in England and Wales in 2024 has returned to its pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic levels after a sharp increase between 2020 and 2021 (worsening affordability); median house sales prices have increased by 1% since 2021, while average earnings have increased by 20%.
- In 2024, 9% of local authorities (LAs) (27) had homes bought for less than five times workers' earnings on average and were therefore deemed affordable; this is the highest proportion since 2015, but well below that at the start of the series in 1997 (88% of areas).
How are monthly mortgage repayments changing in Great Britain?
How are average house prices and changing interest rates affecting monthly mortgage repayments across Great Britain?
Datasets related to Housing
-
First-time buyer mortgage sales, by local authority, UK
The number of first-time buyer mortgage sales, by UK local authority, collected by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
-
Dwelling stock by tenure, UK
The number of dwellings in the UK, and dwelling stock data by tenure for the UK’s constituent countries, where available.
-
House price to workplace-based earnings ratio
Affordability ratios calculated by dividing house prices by gross annual workplace-based earnings. Based on the median and lower quartiles of both house prices and earnings in England and Wales.
-
Residential property sales for administrative geographies: HPSSA dataset 6
Number of residential property sales in England and Wales, by property type and administrative geographies. Annual data.
-
Median house prices for administrative geographies: HPSSA dataset 9
Median price paid for residential property in England and Wales, by property type and administrative geographies. Annual data.
-
House price to residence-based earnings ratio
Affordability ratios calculated by dividing house prices by gross annual residence-based earnings. Based on the median and lower quartiles of both house prices and earnings in England and Wales.
Publications related to Housing
Statistical bulletins
-
Housing affordability in England and Wales: 2024
Data on house prices and annual earnings to calculate affordability ratios for national and subnational geographies in England and Wales on an annual basis.
-
Short-term lets through online collaborative economy platforms, UK: January to December 2024
Number of guest nights, nights, and stays for short-term lets offered via online collaborative economy platforms from Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2023 to Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2024.
-
Index of Private Housing Rental Prices, UK: January 2024
An experimental price index tracking the prices paid for renting property from private landlords in the UK.
-
Private rental affordability, England and Wales: 2023
Private rent prices by country and English region, expressed as a percentage of gross monthly income of private renting households. Part of our additional measures of housing affordability series.
-
UK House Price Index: December 2023
Monthly house price inflation in the UK, calculated using data from HM Land Registry, Registers of Scotland, and Land and Property Services Northern Ireland.
-
Housing, England and Wales: Census 2021
Accommodation type, tenure, rooms and bedrooms, central heating and car or van availability in England and Wales, Census 2021 data.
Articles
-
How are monthly mortgage repayments changing in Great Britain?
How are average house prices and changing interest rates affecting monthly mortgage repayments across Great Britain?
-
Monthly mortgage repayments up 61% for average semi-detached home in the UK
We summarise some key trends from our newly launched mortgage repayments calculator tool
-
The cost of living alone
As the number of one-person households continues to rise, analysis reveals the financial situation and personal well-being of those living alone.
-
How green is your street?
Have you ever wondered how green your street is compared with your neighbourhood, or your city? The Data Science Campus at Office for National Statistics is experimenting with a new way of analysing how green cities are.
-
Homelessness in the UK
A summary of trends in homelessness statistics across the four UK countries and the cross-UK comparability of the data.
-
Private rental prices development plan, UK
Overview of our plans for the statistical development of rental prices statistics, including a timeline for development.
Methodology related to Housing
- Valuation Office Agency property attribute data: quality assurance of administrative data used in Census 2021
- House price statistics for small areas QMI
- Household Satellite Account (experimental)
- Admin-based statistics for property floor space, feasibility research: England and Wales
- Admin-based accommodation type statistics for England and Wales, feasibility research: 2011
Find, compare and visualise statistics about places within the United Kingdom.