UK house prices up 9.8% in year to December

BRITISH house prices rose by 9.8 per cent year-on-year in December compared with the same month in 2021, the office for National statistics (ONS) said on Wednesday (Feb 15).

The increase was lower than November’s revised 10.6 per cent rise. Other measures of the housing market have also pointed to a cooling of demand and prices.

London saw the weakest annual price rise of all English regions with prices in the capital up 6.7 per cent, the ONS said.

A Reuters poll of economists in November forecast house prices would fall by 5 per cent this year, while analysts at Japanese bank Nomura expect a 15 per cent drop by mid-2024. REUTERS