UK Annual House Price Growth Halved to 0.8% in September, the Weakest Since December 2025

UK annual house price growth halved to 0.8% in September from 1.6% in August, prices fell 0.2% on the month and the average house price stood at 274,251 pounds.

UK annual house price growth halved to 0.8% in September 2026 from 1.6% in August, and prices fell 0.2% on the month on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the house price index Nationwide published on 1 October 2026. The average house price stood at 274,251 pounds. The lender's chief economist described it as the weakest rate of growth since December 2025.

A four-month slide, not one bad month

The annual rate has fallen in every month of the third quarter and in June as well. It stood at 2.2% in June, 1.8% in July, 1.6% in August and 0.8% in September. A single month can be revised away; four consecutive steps in the same direction describe a trend rather than an accident of one month's sample.

The quarterly figure has already crossed into negative territory. Prices were 0.4% lower in the third quarter than in the second on a seasonally adjusted basis. Annual growth of 0.8% and a quarterly fall of 0.4% are not in conflict: the annual number still carries the stronger months from late 2025, while the quarterly one describes what has happened since the summer.

The cheap half of the country is still rising, the expensive commuter belt is not

The regional table splits the United Kingdom cleanly. Northern Ireland leads with annual growth of 5.9% and an average price of 227,922 pounds, followed by the North West at 3.9% and 231,360 pounds, Scotland at 3.3% and 196,215 pounds, and the North at 3.3% and 174,731 pounds. Yorkshire and The Humber is up 1.2% at 217,029 pounds, Wales 0.7% at 214,816 pounds, the West Midlands 0.6% at 252,355 pounds and London 0.4% at 529,720 pounds.

Four regions are falling. East Anglia is down 0.7% with an average price of 272,119 pounds, the East Midlands down 0.5% at 237,449 pounds, the South West down 0.3% at 305,180 pounds and the Outer Metropolitan area down 0.2% at 427,430 pounds. The Outer South East is unchanged, at 0.0% and 337,137 pounds.

Read by price rather than by geography, the pattern is sharper. The four cheapest regions in the table, the North, Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire and The Humber, are all growing. The Outer Metropolitan area, the second most expensive region after London, is falling. Affordability is doing more of the explaining here than any north-south story, and London itself is barely positive while sitting at nearly twice the national average price.

How this compares with our own UK data

Our United Kingdom row is built from official statistics rather than lender data: an average price of 272,000 pounds for June 2026 from the official house price index, equal to USD 367,751, and an average monthly private rent of 1,393 pounds for July 2026, equal to USD 1,883. Those two levels are close to the Nationwide average, which is a useful cross-check on the level itself.

The annual rates are not close. We carry a 2% annual change against Nationwide's 0.8%, and the reason is the sample. Nationwide measures its own mortgage approvals, which excludes cash buyers and registers a price at approval; the official series counts completed and registered transactions across the whole market and reports with a lag, so our figure describes June while Nationwide describes September. Both are correct about different months and different buyers.

The United Kingdom publishes no price per square metre, so we divide both sides of the pair by the same average dwelling size of 96 square metres: USD 3,831 per square metre and USD 19.61 per square metre per month. Because the same divisor applies to both, the gross yield is unchanged at 6.15%. Transaction costs run at 9.8%, the effective tax on rental income at 18.51%, and we score the market 41 on our bubble risk scale, in the moderate band. This is market reporting and not investment advice.

Sources: Nationwide Building Society, Annual house price growth halves in September, House Price Index, 1 October 2026 https://www.nationwide.co.uk/media/hpi/reports/annual-house-price-growth-halves-in-september; Nationwide Building Society, House Price Index release listing https://www.nationwide.co.uk/media/hpi

Market data: United Kingdom