The picture for house price performance and property transactions is very different at country level. London and the South continue to hold back average prices for England, while Scotland and Northern Ireland continue to see growth in the market, and Wales is doing well, albeit slower growth overall.

Rightmove

“Across Great Britain, Scotland stands out as an example of resilience, with average prices rising by over 4%. Lower average asking prices and a faster home-buying process continue to support price growth in the Scottish market.”

RICS

“Respondents in Northern Ireland and Scotland continue to report rising prices.” 

Halifax

“House prices continue to vary by region, with stronger growth in the North and more subdued conditions in the South. Northern Ireland continues to lead UK annual house price growth, with average prices up +8.7% over the past year to £224,809. Scotland also recorded strong growth, rising +4.4% annually to an average price of £222,716. Wales saw a more modest increase of +1.6% on annual basis, taking the typical home value to £230,909.”

 Nationwide (Q1 2026 Regional HPI Report)

“Northern Ireland continued to outpace the rest of the UK by a wide margin, with prices increasing by 9. 5% over the year. This was more than six times faster than the 1. 5% recorded in the UK as a whole (in Q 1) and nearly three times higher than the 3. 3% recorded in the next strongest region (North West). This strong performance mirrored that in the border regions of Ireland over the same period.”

“Scotland saw a pickup in annual house price growth in Q1 to 3.0%, from 1.9% in Q4 2025. This was closely followed by Wales, where prices were up 2.7% year-on year.”

Source: March & Q1 2026 HPI – Nationwide

Focus on Wales

The latest market update on Wales from Savills suggests:

“House prices in Wales rose by 2.6% in the year to March 2026, and by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to Nationwide. Transactions in 2025 were broadly on par with their 2017-19 levels, 4% below over the year, per HMRC. And activity rose in the first two months of 2026, 4% above 2017-19.

“Conflict in the Middle East risks derailing the positive outlook for Wales. The signs pointed to cautious optimism at the end of 2025 and into the first couple of months of this year; although demand was low, prices were rising and mortgage rates were gradually coming down. On that basis, we forecasted 3% growth across Wales in 2026, and 27.6% over five years.”

Whether this forecast holds or not depends on how long the US-Iran war carries on and negatively influences interest and mortgage rates which will hold back demand and price growth this year.

What is interesting from Savills analysis is the issue of second home sales. Currently the news is full of information about properties being sold by Landlords in England due to the Renters Rights Act, but there has been little coverage of the impact of higher Council Tax where Local Authorities can charge up to 300% more for second homes since April 2023.

Savills suggest this is holding back prices in areas on the Coast in particular:-

“Second home hotspots are feeling the pressure of higher council tax, with falling prices in many coastal markets. This includes Ceredigion (-4.5%), Carmarthenshire (-2.6%) and Pembrokeshire (-1.9%). House price growth has slowed across most Welsh local authorities in the year to December 2025, with only the Isle of Anglesey seeing growth above 5%, according to the more lagged Land Registry index.”

However, some good news for the Welsh market is that new builds are on the rise after four years of declines with annualised new homes completions rising by 8% in 2025 to 7,500.

Overall, the Welsh market is a little subdued, but still performing well.