Average UK house prices have increased in 25 of the last 30 years, with the average property rising by 15.3% in value over the past five years, amounting to an average of £36,100 per home.
However, new analysis from Zoopla reveals that sustained, consistent house price growth may be a thing of the past - with fewer than one in seven (14%) homes growing in value on a consecutive yearly basis between June 2021 and June 2026.
The UK’s northern regions have proven to be the most resilient when it comes to steady home value increases. Lower home values means more households can afford to buy and this supports continued price increases despite changing economic conditions and higher borrowing costs.
Property in the North West leads the UK in consistent house price growth, with 30% of homes consistently increasing in value over each of the past five years. This trend is also evident in other, more affordable areas such as Yorkshire and the Humber, where 22% of homes have continued to rise in value each year.
However, these areas lie in stark contrast to southern England where the impact of higher borrowing costs has had a greater impact on house prices and fewer than 1 in 20 homes have registered consistent yearly increases in home values.
Regional outliers
There are localised hotspots in each region where home values have risen consistently over the last five years. These tell a clearer story than the regional averages with specific features that have supported consistent price inflation.
Dagenham's resilience tracks its position as one of London's last affordable family-home markets with home values around 25% below the London average (£400,000 versus £525,000).
Affordability combined with transport improvements like the Elizabeth Line and Overground line extension to Barking Riverside explain the above average performance versus London overall.
Bicester's strong performance, with 28% of homes registering consistent price gains, also reflects transport improvements with East West Rail's Oxford-Cambridge link (Bicester-Bletchley section opened December 2024).
North of the border, Bonnybridge sees 60.8% of homes with consistent growth - the UK's highest proportion - with average home values of £220,000. Bonnybridge provides good access to Falkirk, Stirling and Glasgow which are all within a 15-40 minute commute.
In contrast, while Witham is the strongest performer in the East of England, only 13.3% of homes have risen in value each year - despite a 45-minute Liverpool Street commute - because average home values are already at £320,000 on average.
This underlines the pattern: housing affordability, not just transport access, is what helps sustain markets that have registered consistent house price growth.
At the other end of the scale, persistent year-on-year decline in value emerged as a rare event, affecting just 0.2% of UK homes (approximately 56,000 properties).
Where this consistent decline occurs, it points to hyper-local economic or market factors rather than broader national trends. In Aberdeen, for example, 5.9% of homes fell in value every year for five years, reflecting the long-term structural transition of the North Sea oil and gas industry.
Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla, commented: "The last five years have seen local housing markets adjust differently to the impact of moving from record-low borrowing costs to higher rates today. Housing markets across Northern Ireland, the North and Scotland have seen homeowners keep building equity in their home because the local housing market was less exposed to the affordability pressures that higher mortgage rates bring.
“For homeowners, this analysis highlights why you cannot rely on national or regional averages when assessing what your home is worth. Trends vary by property type and at a hyper local level. Understanding whether your local area has consistently built equity or flatlined is essential information, if you want to understand what you can afford to buy next or you are actively planning your next move."
