DATA: ONS reported CPI rose by 2.8% in year to Apr 2026
This was lower than the 3.3% reported the previous month as “Housing and household services made the largest downward contribution to the monthly change in both CPIH and CPI annual rates” while “an upward contribution from a large increase in motor fuel prices was counteracted by downward effects from other categories in the transport division”.
DATA: ONS published UK labour market overview
They report “The early estimate of payrolled employees for April 2026 decreased by 210,000 (0.7%) on the year, and by 100,000 (0.3%) on the month, to 30.2 million” while “Annual growth in employees’ average earnings in Great Britain was 3.4% for regular earnings (excluding bonuses), and 4.1% for total earnings (including bonuses) in January to March 2026”. On vacancies, they report “Early estimates for February to April 2026 suggest a decrease of 28,000 (3.9%), to 705,000, compared with November to January 2026, the lowest level of vacancies since February to April 2021”.
DATA: Rightmove reported UK asking prices fell 0.3% in year to May 2026
They report(PDF) “Buyer choice is at its highest for this time of year since 2015, and with 32% of existing homes for sale seeing a price reduction, new sellers need to price more competitively, as over-optimistic initial pricing is leading to longer selling times”. They also report “The housing market remains confident overall despite global uncertainty and resulting cost-of-living pressures, with the number of sales agreed just 4% below last year when mortgage rates were significantly lower, yet still up 2% on the same period in 2024”.
DATA: ONS reported UK house prices were unchanged in year to Mar 2026
This was a fall from 1.7% annual growth the previous month. However, it mostly reflects the impact of last year’s stamp duty holiday on prices. The growth rate is likely to rise to around 3% next month. They also report “The East Midlands was the English region with the highest house price inflation, at 0.7%, in the 12 months to March 2026” and lowest in London where “Prices fell by 2.1% in the 12 months to March 2026”.
DATA: ONS reported private rents rose 3.5% in year to Apr 2026
They report “In England, private rents annual inflation was highest in the North East (6.5%), and lowest in London (2.0%), in the 12 months to April 2026”.
DATA: ONS reported £1.55bn SDLT receipts in Apr 2026
The total value of Stamp Duty Land Tax receipts, covering both residential and commercial property, was 0.8% lower than the same month last year.
DATA: MHCLG published English dwelling stock estimates for 2025
They report “There were 25.8 million dwellings in England as of 31 March 2025, an increase of 208,600 dwellings or 0.81% on the previous year”. See Chart of the Week for more detail on the tenure breakdown.
DATA: MHCLG published leasehold dwellings stats for 2024/25
They report “In 2024-25, there were an estimated 4.90 million leasehold dwellings in England” and “This equates to 20% of the English housing stock”. They also report “The total number of leasehold dwellings has not increased or decreased significantly in the past 5 years”.
DATA: MHCLG published leasehold term remaining factsheet
They report “There were 4.8 million individual leases registered against just over 4 million households in England in 2023 to 2024” and “The average length remaining on all leases was 480 years”. They also report “There were a total of 412,000 households living in properties with 80 years or less remaining on the lease” and “Of these, 204,000 households were owner occupied”.
DATA: Homes England published housing delivery stats for 2025/26
They report that they “enabled the completion of more than 40,200 homes, up 9% on 2024/25 (36,900)” and “facilitated the start of construction for an additional 42,400 homes, up 11% on 2024/25 (38,300)”.
DATA: UKF published regional mortgage market factsheets for Q1 2026
The factsheets for the countries of the UK and regions of England cover key mortgage market information on first-time buyers and home movers.
DATA: MoJ published mortgage & landlord possessions stats for Q1 2026
They report “Compared to the same quarter in 2025 there were decreases in mortgage possession claims from 6,767 to 5,181 (23%), orders from 4,602 to 3,749 (19%), and warrants from 3,552 to 3,420 (4%)”. They also report “Landlord possession claims, orders, warrants and repossessions have decreased”.
DATA: ONS published long-term international migration stats for 2025
“At 171,000, long-term international net migration for year ending (YE) December 2025 has nearly halved from YE December 2024 (updated to 331,000); this level was last seen when the new immigration system was introduced in early 2021, and the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic travel restrictions were still in place.”
DATA: Financial Market Expectations For BoE’s Bank Rate
The chart provides a summary for the expected future level of Bank Rate based on daily data. The One Year figure was 4.37% on the 20th May compared to 4.50% on the 13th May.
DATA: New Build Energy Performance Certificates, England
This chart provides a summary of the number of EPCs on new build properties, a useful leading indicator for net additions. The 52-week rolling total was 209,037 for the week commencing 11th May, slightly higher than the 208,869 total for the previous week.
POLICY: MHCLG launched High Value Council Tax Surcharge consultation
They are “seeking views on the design and delivery of the High Value Council Tax Surcharge (HVCTS), a new charge on residential properties worth £2 million and above in England”.
POLICY: MHCLG published private rented sector data collection strategy
The strategy sets out “A long-term plan to improve data on private renting, helping understand renter experiences and assess the impact of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025”.
REPORT: Centre for London reported on the capital’s housing crisis
They report “London has experienced a deepening crisis of housing distribution as much as one of supply”. They report “If London’s housing stock had grown by an additional 1% annually since 2002, house prices would be around a third lower, and affordability would be more in line with the rest of the country” but “this would have required London to build more than twice as many houses every year for the past two decades – equivalent to adding the entire housing stock of Birmingham twice over”. They also report “A winner-takes-all’ housing market” means that “how stock is distributed is not only determined by overall availability”.
REPORT: PIC reported on flood risk and institutional investment
They “examine how to reduce flood risk and boost institutional investment in housing and infrastructure”.
REPORT: Centre for Cities reported on the geography of urban deprivation
They report “Two-thirds of the most deprived neighbourhoods in the UK are in cities, even though cities and non-urban areas each account for roughly half of all neighbourhoods” and “Within cities, deprivation concentrates in urban cores and affluence in suburbs”, while “The national fall in urban core deprivation since 2010 has been driven overwhelmingly by a small number of large cities”.
REPORT: Manchester Social Housing Commission published final report
The report had three objectives: “To set out the substantive case for an acceleration of building sustainable homes for social rent”, “To present our key recommendations and assess progress achieved to date”, and “To reflect on the process we have followed, in support of more and better public participation in policymaking”.
REPORT: COPNI reported on older renters in Northern Ireland
They report “Older people renting privately in Northern Ireland are facing a combination of insecurity, rising costs and unsuitable housing that risks becoming a major social issue in the years ahead” and “Currently around 17,600 people aged 65 and over in Northern Ireland are private renters, but the report warns this number is growing and could increase significantly by 2040”.
REPORT: Savills reported on build-to-rent viability
They report “The Living sector continues to face sustained viability pressures, despite ongoing depth of investor appetite” and include a hypothetical example.
CORPORATE: Harworth Group published AGM Statement
They report “We are starting to see some supply-chain cost inflation as a result of the war in the Middle East – largely from higher fuel costs affecting civils and material production” and are still “Progressing residential land sales despite market conditions remaining challenging”.
CORPORATE: Crest Nicholson delayed half year results
They report “As outlined in the 21 April 2026 trading update, the Group is in discussion with lenders in relation to seeking a temporary covenant relaxation” and “the publication of the Group’s half year results will be delayed to allow sufficient time for the orderly completion of the covenant reset process and for the Group’s auditors to complete their review processes”.
CORPORATE: Henry Boot published AGM Trading Update
They report “Demand remains resilient for our high quality residential land, prime industrial developments and premium homes” and, for Stonebridge Homes “the overall net private reservation rate remains in line with last year at 0.41 for the 18 weeks to 17 May 2026 (2025: 0.41)”.
Chart of the Week
This week MHCLG published their dwelling stock estimates for England as of the 31st March 2025. The release includes a breakdown by housing tenure and they report 16.6 million were owner occupied, 5.0 million were private rented, and 4.2 million were social and affordable rented homes. However, it’s more interesting to look at how those figures have changed over the years. As the Chart of the Week below shows, the 2000s and early 2010s saw nearly all of the net increase in the dwelling stock end up in the private rented sector. But, by 2015 this had flipped with most net additional homes ending up owner occupied. However, recent years have seen this shrink again, with both the private rented sector and social rented sector growing – including previous years that have seen the number of private rented homes revised upwards, with the total number of private rented dwellings now above five million for the first time since the 1950s.
