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Halifax index becomes Lloyds and records first monthly rise in four months as National Housing Bank makes first loans

Week ending 9 July 2026 · published 9 July 2026

Halifax becomes Lloyds as June prices edge up

The Halifax House Price Index was renamed the Lloyds House Price Index from July 2026, with the methodology unchanged. The first release under the new name, published 7 July, recorded UK house prices up 0.2 per cent month-on-month in June, the first monthly rise in four months, taking the average property price to 299,330 pounds. Annual growth edged up to 0.6 per cent from 0.5 per cent in May. Northern Ireland remained the strongest-performing market with annual growth of 7.4 per cent, followed by Scotland at 3.9 per cent and Wales at 0.9 per cent. For first-time buyers, annual growth rose to 0.8 per cent in June from 0.3 per cent in May, with the average first-time-buyer property at 240,433 pounds. The reading narrows the gap with Nationwide, whose June index published 1 July recorded annual growth of 2.2 per cent, to 1.6 percentage points; the two lender-based series remain further apart than usual. Rightmove's June print of minus 0.6 per cent month-on-month at 376,191 pounds, published 15 June, remains the freshest asking-price data point, with the stock of homes for sale at its highest level for the time of year on Rightmove's records. The next Rightmove release is scheduled for 20 July and the next ONS UK House Price Index for 22 July.

National Housing Bank and the supply pipeline

The National Housing Bank, a Homes England company launched in April 2026, announced on 9 July its first three loan agreements totalling 35 million pounds, supporting around 2,500 new homes across Salford, Bromley and Ludlow: 14 million for Middlewood Locks (up to 1,900 homes), 10 million from Tikehau Capital for the Bromley Walnuts redevelopment (440 homes), and 11 million from Pickstock Homes for phase three of a Ludlow scheme. The bank intends to invest up to 16 billion pounds over the next decade, aiming to crowd in more than 50 billion pounds of private capital and enable more than 500,000 homes.

Regulator and landlord standards

The Regulator of Social Housing published revised consumer standards and requirements on 9 July. Private registered providers must give tenants information-access parity with local authority tenants. Senior housing managers and executives will be required to hold, or be working towards, a housing management qualification. The new standards come into force in October 2026; an electrical-safety Tenant Safety Measure was introduced in June 2026.

Cladding, fraud and short lets

MHCLG extended cladding funding on 9 July to lower-rise buildings with serious fire-safety risks under the existing Cladding Safety Scheme, shifting from height-based to risk-based prioritisation under the Remediation Acceleration Plan; an upcoming Remediation Bill will extend landlord remediation duties. The same day the Financial Conduct Authority outlined its review of insurance premiums for buildings with fire-safety risks, and the government announced plans for a new Single Construction Regulator. On 8 July the Cabinet Office and Airbnb announced a first-of-its-kind data-sharing partnership covering around 450,000 properties; early results identified 470 potential cases of social housing illegally sublet on short-term rental platforms, across London boroughs, Edinburgh City Council, Birmingham City Council and Anglesey Council; the government estimates around 5,800 social homes are illegally sublet in England, at a cost to taxpayers of around 78,300 pounds per case.

Mortgages, Bank Rate and rents

The Rightmove daily mortgage tracker recorded the average two-year fixed mortgage rate at 5.07 per cent in June 2026, down from 5.18 per cent in May. The Bank of England's MPC held Bank Rate at 3.75 per cent on 18 June, 7-2, with Megan Greene and Huw Pill voting to raise by 0.25 percentage points to 4 per cent. CPI inflation was 2.8 per cent in May, unchanged from April. The Ofgem energy price cap rose by 221 pounds, or 13.5 per cent, to 1,862 pounds for July to September 2026. Average UK monthly private rent stood at 1,383 pounds in the 12 months to May 2026, with annual rent growth of 3.3 per cent; Scotland's 1.0 per cent was the slowest regional rate in almost a decade.

Sources

We report what the data shows — no forecasts, no investment advice. For local detail, see house prices by area and the monthly market report.