Annual price growth continues to trend downward in the UK, official figures show

Average house prices in the UK increased by 4.9% in the year to January 2018, down from 5% in December 2017, according to the latest official figures to be published. It means that annual growth rate has now slowed since the middle of 2016 but it has remained broadly around 5% since 2017, the figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show. The average prices of a house are now £226,000, some £11,000 higher than in January 2017 and unchanged from last month. In England house prices increased by 4.6% year on year to £242,000 while Wales saw house prices increase by 4.5% to £153,000 and in Northern Ireland prices were up 4.3% to £130,000. But Scotland leads the annual growth with a rise of 7.3% to £149,000. On a regional basis, London continued to be the region with the highest average house price at £486,000, followed by the South East and the East of England at £323,000 and £290,000 respectively. The lowest average price continued to be in the North East at £123,000.