UK house price growth 'quickens'

Price growth is mixed across the UK

House price inflation across the UK has picked up pace in the year to November, according to a report from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM).

The annual rate of house price growth was 2.5% in November, up from a revised 1.8% in the previous month.

The ODPM's survey, based on a sample of 40,000 completed sales, found that average house prices rose in November.

It said that the average home cost £186,431 in November compared with £185,398 in October.

Off the boil

House price inflation varied throughout the UK.

In London average prices rose 2.2% during the year to November, compared with a 0.5% fall in October.

Prices continued to move upwards in the north-west and north-east of England and in Northern Ireland.

However, in Wales and Scotland the annual rate of price increase slowed sharply.

In Wales the inflation rate in fell from 8.8% to 6.5% and in Scotland the rate fell from 9.3% to 8.9%.

The findings echo those of commercial surveys, such as the Halifax and Nationwide, which have indicated that the housing market has come off the boil in areas which enjoyed the strongest growth in the early part of last year.

But annual house price inflation in these areas is still above the UK average, the ODPM said.