Steady rise for house prices

The latest House Price Index has been published, revealing data for house prices across the UK.

February’s data shows that house prices are maintaining steady growth, with the annual figures showing a 4.4% rise, bringing the value of the average property in the UK to £225,047. This is down from 4.7% in the year to January 2018.

Overall, the rate of growth has slowed over the last two years, coming in under 5%. This has been mainly driven by the fall in London prices, which have decreased by 1% over the year.

Across England’s regions, the West Midlands showed the highest annual growth, with prices increasing by 7.3% in the year to February 2018. While the lowest annual growth was in London, with 1% registering as the lowest annual growth in London since September 2009 when it was negative 3.2%.

In England, the February data shows on average, house prices have risen by 0.2% since January 2018, with an annual price rise of 4.1%. The North East experienced the greatest monthly price rise, up by 3.1%, with London experiencing the most significant monthly price fall, down by 2.1%.

Sales of homes have fallen since December, with the latest HM Land Registry figures available for England showing a drop of 21.2% (62,697 sales compared with 79,605 in December 2016).

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