House prices went up 5.6% in the year to April, up from March’s figure of 4.5%, new figures show.
According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, house prices rose £3,000, taking the average value of a property in the UK up to £220,000.
However, the figures contradict data from Halifax and Nationwide suggesting that house price growth is slowing down.
In England house prices have shot up by 5.7% over the year to £237,000.
Wales saw house prices increase by 4.2% over the last 12 months to £148,000, while in Scotland they went up by 6.8% to £146,000.
The average price in Northern Ireland currently stands at £124,000, an increase of 4.3% over the year.
On a regional basis, London continues to be the region with the highest average house price at £483,000, followed by the South East and the East of England, which stand at £315,000 and £281,000 respectively.
The lowest average price continues to be in the North East at £123,000.
However, the figures contradict data from other sources which suggest that house price growth is slowing down.
According to the latest Halifax House Price Index, annual house price growth eased to 3.3% in May, down from 3.8% in April.
Meanwhile, figures from Nationwide show monthly house price growth fell 0.2% in May.
Experts have put this down to buyers holding off due to uncertainty over the snap election and Brexit.
Founder and CEO of eMoov.co.uk, Russell Quirk, said that despite the rise, transactions were down in response to the news of the snap election.
“The latest government data seems to portray a healthier market than other industry sources on the surface, with the monthly rate of growth bucking the downward trends seen in the previous month to climb 1.6%.
“Although the events of the last year, particularly the changing political landscape, do not seem to have had a long-lasting detrimental impact on the UK property market, they have certainly stunted the rate of price growth.
“Many UK homeowners and buyers for that matter would have been waiting for the election outcome to provide an air of stability in which to conduct their transaction. The reality, for the immediate future at least, will not provide that and it is likely that the unpredictable swings in house price growth seen over the last few months will now persist for a while longer.”
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