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.
Wales has the third-highest premium in the table — behind only Scotland and the North East, but still adding roughly £115,000 to the average new-build price there. Buying in Cardiff or South Wales? Our sister site Capital Mortgage Advice publishes local guides to Cardiff prices, Land Transaction Tax and Welsh schemes.
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) andOldPrice(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.