Average UK house price has increased by £11,000 in a year

House prices were £11,000 higher in July typically than a year earlier, according to official figures.

The average UK house price was £226,000 in July, which was £11,000 higher than in July 2016, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) jointly with other bodies.

Property values were up by 5.1% in the year to July and the annual growth rate has remained broadly around 5% during 2017, the report said. House prices were also up by 1.1% month-on-month in July.

The highest annual house price growth was in the East Midlands, at 7.5%, while the slowest annual growth was in London, at 2.8%, in the 12 months to July. House price growth in London has remained below the UK average for eight months in a row.

The main contribution to the increase in UK house prices came from England, where house prices increased by 5.4% over the year to July, reaching £243,000 on average.

Wales saw house prices increase by 3.1% over the previous 12 months to stand at £151,000 typically.

In Scotland, the average price increased by 4.8% over the year to reach £149,000 on average.

The average price in Northern Ireland stands at £129,000, an increase of 4.4% over the year.

The local authority showing the largest annual growth in the year to July 2017 was the Cotswold, where house prices surged by 16.2% to reach £385,000 on average.

The lowest annual growth was recorded in City of London, where prices fell by 18.4% to stand at £744,000 typically.

But the report cautioned that low numbers of house sales in some areas can cause volatility in the figures.

Jeremy Leaf, a north London estate agent and a former residential chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said: "It is the shortage of supply, historically low mortgage rates and relatively low unemployment which are underpinning prices, rather than strong buyer demand."

Thomas Fisher, an economist at PwC, said: "Factoring in continued pressure on household incomes in the second half of the year, we anticipate a likely weakening in UK house price inflation to around 4% on average for 2017."

Howard Archer, chief economic adviser at EY ITEM Club, said: "Housing market activity and prices are also likely to be pressurised by stretched house prices to earnings ratios and tight checking of prospective mortgage borrowers by lenders."

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