UK House Prices increase by over 7% in a Year

The latest UK house price data has been released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). The figures for February 2015 show an overall increase of 7.2% which means that the average house price in the UK is now £268,000 compared to £253,000 a year ago, but the increase is slowing.

• UK house prices increased by 7.2% in the year to February 2015, down from 8.4% in the year to January 2015.
• House price annual inflation was 7.4% in England, 1.1% in Wales, 6.4% in Scotland and 14.2% in Northern Ireland.
• Annual house price growth is showing signs of slowing across the majority of the UK.
• Annual house price increases in England were driven by an annual increase in the East of 10.7% and in London of 9.4%.
• Excluding London and the South East, UK house prices increased by 5.9% in the 12 months to February 2015.
• On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices increased by 0.6% between January and February 2015.
• In February 2015, prices paid by first-time buyers were 7.4% higher on average than in February 2014. For owner-occupiers (existing owners), prices increased by 7.2% for the same period.