Annual UK house price growth picked up at the start of 2026, with Nationwide’s House Price Index (HPI) showing a year-over-year increase of 1.0% in January. The figure, updated on 2 February 2026, marks a modest acceleration from December 2025, when annual growth stood at 0.6%.
The data compares price changes in January 2026 with January a year earlier, and December 2025 with the same month a year before. The uptick suggests a gradual firming in housing market conditions, as annual growth edges higher after a subdued end to 2025. While still far from the rapid gains seen in previous market upswings, the shift from 0.6% to 1.0% indicates a slow but steady improvement in momentum across the UK housing sector.
Investors and housing market watchers will now be looking to see whether this early‑year strengthening in price growth proves durable in the coming months, or remains a tentative stabilisation following a period of muted annual gains.
