The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the average house price in the UK reached £224,000 in October 2017. This is apparently £10,000 higher than in October 2016 and £1,000 lower than last month. 

Average Price Rises

Average house prices in the UK have increased by 4.5% in the year to October 2017 (down from 4.8% in September 2017). ONS highlights that the annual growth rate has slowed since mid-2016 but has remained broadly around 5% during 2017.

The main contribution to the increase in UK house prices came from England, where house prices increased by 4.7% over the year to October 2017, with the average price in England now £241,000.

Looking at the rest of the UK, Wales saw house prices increase by 4.5% over the last 12 months to stand at £153,000, while in Scotland, the average price increased by 2.8% over the year to stand at £144,000. The average price in Northern Ireland currently stands at £132,000, an increase of 6.0% over the year to Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2017.

Regional Breakdown

It is perhaps not surprising that on a regional basis, London continued to be the region with the highest average house price at £481,000, followed by the South East and the East of England, which stood at £322,000 and £289,000 respectively. The lowest average price continued to be in the North East at £127,000.

The local authority showing the largest annual growth in the year to October 2017 was Swale, where prices increased by 15.5% to stand at £255,000. The lowest annual growth was recorded in Hartlepool, where prices fell by 6.1% to stand at £99,000.

Two Scottish local authorities - Inverclyde and the City of Aberdeen - appeared in the bottom five local authority areas for annual growth, both recording average house price falls of 4%.

In October 2017, the most expensive borough to live in was Kensington and Chelsea, where the cost of an average house was £1.2 million. In contrast, the cheapest area to purchase a property was Burnley, where an average house cost £76,000.

Registers of Scotland Comment

“Average prices in Scotland continued their upward trend in October with an increase of 2.8% when compared to October 2016,” commented Registers of Scotland Operations Director and Accountable Officer Janet Egdell. “Average prices have been steadily increasing each month since March 2016, when compared with the same month of the previous year.”

“Residential sales volumes increased in August,” she added. “The annual increase of 7.4% when compared with August 2016 in Scotland compares to decreases across the rest of the UK. The cumulative volume of sales for Scotland for the financial year to date – from April to August 2017 – was 45,341. This is an increase of 11.3% on the equivalent year to date position for August 2016.”

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Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.