Average UK house price passes £300,000 for first time, Halifax says

Average UK house price passes £300,000 for first time, Halifax says

London | 9 February 2026 — The average price of a UK home has moved above £300,000 for the first time, according to the latest Halifax House Price Index, as the market entered 2026 with modest momentum after a late-2025 dip. Halifax said the “typical” property value reached £300,077 in January 2026, up 0.7% on the month, with annual growth edging up to 1.0%.

The milestone headline figure is likely to land loudly in a cost-of-living environment where affordability remains stretched, particularly for first-time buyers. Halifax itself cautioned that, while activity looks resilient, the underlying challenge is that house prices remain high relative to incomes, deposits and borrowing costs.

But the data also underlines an important reality: even with the “£300k” marker, the UK housing market is not showing the kind of rapid acceleration seen during the pandemic years. Halifax notes that price growth has been relatively subdued in recent years compared with the surge recorded between 2020 and 2023.

The key numbers

Halifax’s January 2026 snapshot shows:

• Average UK house price: £300,077 (record high; first time above £300k)

• Monthly change: +0.7%, following -0.5% in December 2025

• Annual change: +1.0%, up from +0.4% the previous month

Halifax described the market as starting the year on a “steady footing” and framed the latest movement as more of a rebound than a breakout.

Why the “£300k” headline doesn’t mean the whole market is overheating

The UK has a long-running problem where national averages can feel disconnected from local reality. In practice, the “average” is being pulled by two opposing forces:

1. Some regions continue to see firm price growth (particularly outside southern England), while

2. parts of the South have been softer, reflecting the long shadow of higher mortgage costs and stretched affordability.

Coverage of the same Halifax release highlights pronounced regional divergence:

• Northern Ireland: strongest annual growth reported at 5.9%

• Scotland: also strong, around 5.4%

• South East & South West: reported annual declines around -1.6%

• Greater London: down around -1.3%, with an average value cited at roughly £538,600

That pattern is consistent with an affordability-led “two-speed” market: areas with lower absolute prices can still move up even with higher rates, while already-expensive regions struggle to push higher without a corresponding jump in incomes.

The mortgage-rate factor: easing, but still a constraint

A key reason January’s data is being read as “steady, not spectacular” is the interest-rate environment. While mortgage pricing has improved from the peaks seen during the rate shock period, borrowing remains materially more expensive than the ultra-low-rate era that powered the pandemic boom.

Recent commentary around the Halifax data points to falling mortgage rates (with some deals dipping below 4% in certain cases) helping activity at the margin, but not transforming affordability.

This matters because the UK market is heavily mortgage-driven: even small changes in typical monthly repayments can shift demand, especially among first-time buyers and movers who need large loans relative to income.

Averages vary by dataset — and that’s not a mistake

If you’re writing this up for WPF News, one of the most important pieces of context is that “the” UK house price isn’t a single agreed number.

Halifax is a major lender, and its index is based on mortgage approvals and lending data. That makes it timely and useful for spotting turning points — but it does not capture everything (for example, it doesn’t include all-cash transactions).

By contrast, official measures and registry-based datasets often produce different “average price” figures. The ONS bulletin (drawing on UK House Price Index data) has recently placed the UK average closer to £271,000 for late-2025 estimates, with annual growth rates reported in the 2–3% range depending on month and methodology.

And HM Land Registry’s UK HPI portal similarly showed an average around £271,188 as of November 2025, with annual growth about 2.5%.

So why the gap?

• Timing: lender indices can move faster than registry data, which updates with a lag as transactions complete.

• Coverage: lender datasets are mortgage-based; registry datasets reflect completed sales (including cash), but arrive later.

• Mix changes: if more higher-value homes transact in a period, averages rise even if “like-for-like” values are flat.

For readers, the practical takeaway is: treat the trend as more informative than one headline number, and treat different indices as complementary rather than contradictory.

What Halifax says happens next

Forecasting remains cautious. Halifax’s own commentary suggests the market has found a more stable rhythm, but expects any rises to be modest rather than explosive — with affordability likely to cap gains.

In wider reporting tied to the same release, expectations for 2026 are generally framed as low single-digit increases rather than a return to boom conditions, with typical forecasts in the 1–3% range (and some analysts slightly higher).

What to watch

1) First-time buyer stress points
If prices drift up while mortgage costs remain elevated, deposits and affordability tests become the choke point—especially in the South.

2) Regional divergence
If Northern Ireland and Scotland continue to outpace southern England, the national average can rise even while many households in expensive regions experience stagnation or small declines.

3) Confirmation from other indices
Nationwide and other measures sometimes diverge from Halifax due to methodology; if multiple indices show the same direction, confidence in the trend strengthens.

4) The lagging official picture
ONS and Land Registry figures will either validate or temper lender-based signals as more completed transaction data flows through.