Skip to content

House Price Index, February 2012

The latest House Price Index produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) was released on 17 April 2012, according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Statistics on Average House Prices and Annual House Price Inflation include data for the United Kingdom and its Government Regions for the period February 2012. The latest release updates the statistics previously released on 13 March 2012.

The ONS House Price Index (HPI), previously published by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), is calculated using mortgage financed transactions that are collected via the Regulated Mortgage Survey by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and covering the majority of mortgage lenders in the UK. It provides comprehensive information on the change in house prices on a monthly and annual basis across the different regions of the UK (including Wales). The data are not seasonally adjusted so month-on-month comparisons should be treated with caution.

House price figures for each month of 2011 and for January 2012 have been revised from those published previously. Revisions to the 2011 data were due to an error in the HPI weight, whilst the January 2012 revision was due to the planned annual update of weights.

The key points from the latest release are:

  • Over the year to February 2012, the HPI in Wales decreased by 0.5 per cent compared with the annual decrease to January 2012 of 0.6 per cent.
  • Across the UK as a whole, the HPI increased by 0.3 per cent over the year to February 2012 compared with January 2012 which showed no increase or decrease over the 12 months.
  • Comparing February 2012 with January 2012 (not seasonally adjusted), average house prices decreased in Wales and across the UK as a whole.
  • The average house price* in Wales in February 2012 was £151,839, the third lowest figure amongst the regions of the UK (higher only than the North East and Northern Ireland).
  • The average house price* in the UK in February 2012 was £224,473, whilst the UK figure, excluding London and the South East, was £182,742.

Notes

*Mix-adjusted house prices which take account of the different mix of properties sold in the period in question and are thus unaffected by varying sales of particular property types in one period when compared to another.

Further information

Office for National Statistics website: House Price Index, February 2012

Contact

Tel: 029 2082 3757
E-mail: stats.housing@wales.gsi.gov.uk

Next update

23 May 2012