House prices growing at slowest rate since 2013 - ONS

House prices rose at their slowest annual rate for nearly six years in January, official figures showed on Wednesday, dragged down by ongoing weakness in the London market.

The Office for National Statistics said average house prices in the UK increased by 1.7% in the year to January 2019, down from the 2.2% annual rise reported in December and the lowest annual rate since June 2013, when it was 1.5%.

The lowest annual growth was in London, where prices fell by 1.6% in the year to January; in December they declined 0.7%. The second-worst performer was the east of England, where prices fell 0.2% over the year.

The ONS said: “Over the past two and half years, there has been a slowdown in the UK house price growth, driven mainly by a slowdown in the south and east of England.”

Mike Hardie, head of inflation at the ONS, added: “While average UK house prices increased over the year, the rate is down from last month, and is at its lowest in almost six years.

“London property prices continued to fall, seeing their steepest drop since the end of the financial crisis, with Wales, the East Midlands and the West Midlands driving overall growth.”

Jonathan Hopper, managing director of Garrington Property Finders, said: “The national pace of price growth is being weighed down by the irresistible gravitational pull of London’s falling prices. The sheer scale of the decline in London prices, which fell by almost as much as the UK average rose, is having a distorting effect on the national picture.”

The average UK house price was £228,000 in January, £4,000 higher than the same period a year earlier.

On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices decreased by 0.8% between December and January, compared to a decrease of 0.3% a year earlier. On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in the UK decreased by 0.2%.