ONS says UK house prices up 9.8% in a year

The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show that average house prices increased by 9.8 per cent in the 2014 calendar year, slightly down from the 9.9 per cent recorded in the year to the end of November.

House price annual inflation was 10.2 per cent in England, 4.0 per cent in Wales, 5.5 per cent in Scotland and 4.9 per cent in Northern Ireland.

Increases in England were led, unsurprisingly, by a London rise of 13.3 per cent followed by the south east up 11.5 per cent and East Anglia up 11.4 per cent. Excluding London and the south east, UK house prices increased by 7.4 per cent during 2014.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices increased by 0.7 per cent between November and December 2014.

It almost goes without saying that other indices out in the past 48 hours do not coincide with the generally buoyant sentiments expressed by the ONS.

Spicerhaart says prices in London fell last month, and are now back at January 2014 levels with significant declines in Kensington and Chelsea and Camden. Meanwhile Rightmove says that asking prices in the past month have risen significantly taking the annual increase to an average of £5,000 per property across England and Wales.