UK House Prices Fell 0.4% Over the Year in August on the Lloyds Index

The Lloyds index put the average UK home at £298,468 in August, down 0.4% on the year — its first annual fall since 2023. Nationwide's index disagrees.

The average UK home was worth £298,468 in August 2026 on the Lloyds House Price Index, 0.4% less than a year earlier and 0.2% down on July. It is the first annual fall the index has recorded since November 2023. Nationwide's index, covering the same month, points the other way: annual growth of 1.6% on an average of £275,465.

Why the two indices point different ways

Both series are built from their own lender's mortgage approvals, so each reflects the mix of property that lender's customers are buying — which is also why the two averages sit roughly £23,000 apart. Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said annual growth was little changed in August at 1.6%, against 1.4% in July. Andrew Assam, mortgages director at Lloyds, described a market in which sellers are reluctant to accept offers they feel are too low while some buyers wait to see how conditions develop. Neither reading is wrong. A market this flat can plausibly print on either side of zero depending on whose loan book is being measured, and the honest summary is that UK prices are moving sideways in nominal terms, which after inflation is a real decline.

The regional split is the real story

The national average conceals a spread of more than eight percentage points. Northern Ireland led at 6.9% annual growth on an average of £231,245, followed by Scotland at 3.5% (£223,437), the North East at 2.7% (£184,370) and the North West at 2.0% (£248,675). Wales was barely positive at 0.6% (£230,282). Every decline was in the south and east: the South East at -1.6% (£381,729), Greater London at -1.5% (£534,177), and the South West and Eastern England both at -1.2%, on averages of £298,807 and £331,410. The pattern is what affordability pressure looks like on a map — the cheapest regions are still rising, the dearest are not.

Mortgage pricing moved against buyers

The average two-year fixed rate quoted on 7 September was 5.63%, against 4.83% on 27 February. Eighty basis points on a two-year fix changes what a given household can borrow, and that repricing landed in the same six months during which the annual change crossed into negative territory. Glopra's United Kingdom snapshot, dated 7 September 2026, carries a national average of $3,850 per square metre and a 12-month change of 2.0%, built on a different basis again.

What the spread does and does not tell you

Three credible measures of the same market currently sit between -0.4% and 2.0%. For anyone comparing the UK against other European markets, the useful conclusion is not which index is right but how narrow that band is: at this width, the choice of index does not change the answer. Prices are flat, the regional divergence is wide enough to matter more than the national number, and borrowing costs are higher than they were in February. Lloyds also notes that despite the annual dip, prices remain about 25% above where they stood at the end of 2019.

Sources: Lloyds House Price Index, August 2026 release, 7 Sep 2026 https://www.lloydsbank.com/media-centre/house-price-index.html; MoneyWeek (Lloyds August 2026 index), 7 Sep 2026 https://moneyweek.com/investments/house-prices/lloyds-house-prices-august; Nationwide House Price Index, August 2026 https://www.nationwide.co.uk/media/hpi/reports/house-price-growth-remained-subdued-in-august

Market data: United Kingdom