Published 2026-07-19 · New Build Mortgage Guide · Written and reviewed by Phillip Wakeling-Smith (CeMAP)

The New-Build Premium Lottery: 84% extra in the North East, a discount in London

Quick answer: Using the official UK House Price Index (HM Land Registry), we compared the average price of new-build homes with existing homes across every UK region for calendar 2025. The average UK new build cost £347,576 against £263,587 for an existing home — a 31.9% premium, or about £84,000 in cash. But where you buy changes everything: the premium is 84.0% in the North East and 73.3% in Scotland, just 7.6% in the West Midlands — and London is the only region where new builds are cheaper than existing homes (−9.5%). Compared with 2019, the premium has widened in 12 of 14 areas measured.

The regional league table (2025 averages)

| Region | New build | Existing | Premium | Premium 2019 | |---|---|---|---|---| | North East | £284,732 | £154,724 | 84.0% | 76.3% | | Scotland | £306,878 | £177,062 | 73.3% | 66.4% | | Wales | £322,339 | £206,875 | 55.8% | 54.1% | | East Midlands | £350,993 | £233,701 | 50.2% | 46.7% | | Yorkshire and The Humber | £298,857 | £200,053 | 49.4% | 46.2% | | Northern Ireland | £243,848 | £184,346 | 32.3% | 28.7% | | North West | £276,511 | £209,634 | 31.9% | 29.2% | | East of England | £433,018 | £330,814 | 30.9% | 26.2% | | South East | £486,754 | £375,995 | 29.5% | 25.6% | | South West | £385,497 | £298,133 | 29.3% | 25.1% | | West Midlands | £247,626 | £230,243 | 7.6% | 9.8% | | London | £509,475 | £563,212 | −9.5% | −6.3% | | England | £376,404 | £285,926 | 31.6% | 29.2% | | United Kingdom | £347,576 | £263,587 | 31.9% | 28.4% |

Source: our analysis of HM Land Registry UK House Price Index data (NewPrice vs OldPrice series), averaged across the 12 months of 2025 — the latest full calendar year with complete new-build data. Methodology and caveats below.

Three findings that matter to buyers

1. The premium is a regional lottery. The North East has the cheapest existing homes in the UK (£154,724) but new builds averaging £284,732 — buyers there pay £130,000 extra for new, an 84% uplift. A West Midlands buyer pays 7.6% extra for the same decision. The decision to buy new costs wildly different amounts depending on where you stand.

2. London's discount is real — and it's about what gets built. London's new supply is overwhelmingly flats, while its existing stock includes the capital's houses; the average new build (£509,475) therefore undercuts the average existing home (£563,212). It's the mirror image of the North East, where new estates of family houses tower over a stock of terraces. The premium partly measures what's being built, not just how new it is — see finding 3 before treating a big premium as pure overpayment.

3. The premium feeds directly into deposit and valuation risk. A 10% deposit on the North East's average new build is £28,473 — versus £15,472 on the average existing home. And the bigger the gap between new-build pricing and the local second-hand market, the more room there is for a surveyor to disagree with the price: exactly the mechanism in our down-valuation guide. Check what your plot's premium looks like against local resales with the premium checker, and what a valuation shortfall would do with the down-valuation calculator.

Why premiums are widening

Between 2019 and 2025 the UK-wide premium moved from 28.4% to 31.9%, with rises in 12 of the 14 areas measured. The drivers pull in one direction: build-cost inflation since 2021, newer building regulations pushing energy-efficient (and costlier) specifications, and developer incentives that support headline prices rather than cutting them — the dynamic covered in how lenders treat builder incentives. The West Midlands and London are the exceptions, where premiums narrowed — both regions where flat-heavy new supply meets a strong existing-house stock.

What this means in practice

• The premium isn't automatically a rip-off — new builds carry warranties, energy performance most old stock can't match, and no chain. But it is a price you should know you're paying: compare your plot against local second-hand £/sqm before reserving, not after.
• Budget the deposit on the premium price, and stress-test the purchase against a valuation at existing-stock levels — the affordability check shows your borrowing ceiling to set against it.
• Resale matters most where premiums are biggest. Selling a three-year-old home into a market anchored by cheap existing stock is where premium deflation bites — worth reading alongside our LTV caps for houses vs flats.

Methodology & caveats

• Data: HM Land Registry UK House Price Index full file (April 2026 release), NewPrice (newly built) and OldPrice (existing resold property) series, by region.
• Period: calendar-2025 monthly averages (12 months per region). We used a full-year average rather than the latest single month because the HPI's new-build series is published with a lag and recent months carry low, heavily-revised registration volumes.
• The comparison is average-vs-average, not like-for-like. It reflects the mix of what's built versus what's resold in each region — that's the standard basis for premium figures quoted across the industry, but it means the premium includes composition effects (house/flat mix, size, location within region), not purely the "newness" of the home.
• 2019 comparison uses the same method on the same series. Figures may move slightly as HM Land Registry revises new-build registrations.

Analysis by Phillip Wakeling-Smith (CeMAP). Journalists: you're welcome to reuse these figures with a link to this page; the underlying HPI data is Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence.

FAQ

How much more does a new build cost than an existing home?

On 2025 UK House Price Index data: 31.9% more on average across the UK — £347,576 vs £263,587. The regional range runs from 84% extra in the North East to 9.5% less in London.

Why do new builds cost more?

Partly genuine differences — build quality regulations, energy performance, warranties, incentives baked into pricing — and partly composition: regions where developers build family houses against a stock of cheaper terraces show the biggest gaps. Both parts are real money at completion time.

Is the new-build premium growing?

Yes, in most of the UK: the national premium rose from 28.4% (2019) to 31.9% (2025) on the same measure, with 12 of 14 areas widening. The West Midlands and London are the exceptions.

Does a big premium mean my new build will be down-valued?

Not automatically — valuers assess your specific plot — but a large gap between new-build pricing and local second-hand evidence is the raw material of down-valuations. Check your exposure with the premium checker and the down-valuation calculator.