UK house prices increased by 7.7% in the year to November 2015, up from 7.0% in the year to October 2015.
House price annual inflation was 8.3% in England, 1.3% in Wales, 0.4% in Scotland and 4.6% in Northern Ireland.
Annual house price increases in England were driven by an annual increase in the East (10.2%), the South East (9.8%) and London (9.8%).
In November 2015, prices paid by first-time buyers were 7.4% higher on average than in November 2014.
For owner-occupiers (existing owners), prices increased by 7.8% for the same period.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) House Price Index (HPI), previously published by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), is a monthly release that publishes figures for mix-adjusted average house prices and house price indices for the UK, its component countries and regions.
The index is calculated using mortgage financed transactions that are collected via the regulated mortgage survey by the Council of Mortgage Lenders. These cover the majority of mortgage lenders in the UK. The HPI complements other measures of inflation published by us such as the consumer price indices, the producer price indices and the services producer price indices.
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) have stated on 21st January 2016 that the demand for properties increased in December to a 3 month high[i].
Their survey[ii] also revealed that house prices in London, the South East and East Anglia look set to rise by a further 5% per annum in each of the next five years, compared to a UK average of 4.5%, despite offering “the poorest value for money in the UK”.
Some 62% of respondents to RICS’s survey said that homes in the South East were either “expensive” or “very expensive” given the comparative benefits they offered, with 57% of respondents from London taking the same view. By way of contrast, 100% of Northern Irish respondents and 92% from the North of England believe that homes in their areas offer “fair” value for money.
[i] http://www.rics.org/uk/news/news-insight/press-releases/rics-uk-residential-market-survey-december-2015/
[ii] http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/market-analysis/rics-residential-market-survey/
