House prices went up 5.8% in the year to February, up from January’s figure of 5.3%, new figures show.
According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, on a monthly basis prices rose 0.6%, taking the average price of a property in the UK up to £218,000.
However, the figures contradict data from Halifax and Nationwide suggesting that house price growth is slowing down.
Nicholas Finn, executive director of Garrington Property Finders, said the growth in prices was a symptom of the chronic lack of supply, rather than a robust property market.
“The number of homes for sale is still very limited in many areas, with the RICS reporting that listings have remained stagnant for 12 months in a row,” Finn said.
“Ordinarily such constrained supply, plus the continued availability of incredibly cheap mortgages, would drive prices up much faster than they are.
“So it’s a measure of how much power buyers have that prices are still rising at such modest levels.”
The East of England experienced the greatest increase in its average property price over the last 12 months with a movement of 10.3%.
Price growth was lowest in the North East, with an increase of 2.2%, while the South East saw the most significant monthly price fall of 1.0%.
London shows an annual price increase of 3.7% which takes the average property value to £474,704. Monthly house prices have fallen by 0.9% since January 2017.
The main contribution to the increase in UK house prices came from England, where house prices increased by 6.3% to £234,000.
Wales saw house prices increase by 1.8% over the last 12 months to £145,000, while in Scotland average prices increased by 3.1% to £139,000.
The average price in Northern Ireland currently stands at £125,000, up 5.7% in the last year.
Paul Smith, CEO of haart estate agent, said: “House prices today prove unshakeable, as home buyers are now paying 1.3% more for their homes than they were pre-Brexit. A far cry from the 18% drop in house prices that George Osborne predicted. We can expect price growth to continue, as today’s CML mortgage lending data also shows market resilience as home buyers borrowing is up a huge 7% on the year, and 2% higher than last month.
“This chimes with our own data which shows a surge of new buyers and new instructions entering the market. London price growth has been less buoyant than in recent years, slowing to just 3.7% annually. However whilst demand continues to heavily outweigh supply, and as the weaker pound attracts foreign investors, we can still expect London prices to grow.”
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