UK house prices are increasing faster, reveals ONS

October saw annual house prices increase at a faster rate for the third month in a row, according to the latest statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

However, the news came with a warning that there could be a surge in buy-to-let purchases before April, when new regulations covering landlords come into force, which may have serious knock-on effects for the wider UK economy.

Boom and bust

With the speed of increases in value heating up, fears of a housing market “boom and bust” scenario are taking hold in some quarters, particularly in respect of further buy-to-let purchases and sales.

The actual figures for the annual rate of price growth are now 7%, which is up from 6.1% and 5.5% in September and August respectively.

A former chairman at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), Jeremy Leaf, commented: “These figures reinforce the findings of other recent surveys, demonstrating that the housing market is heading towards a boom and bust that the government is partly responsible for but said it wanted to avoid."

Average price

The new ONS figures reveal that the average price of a home in the UK is now £287,000, with £300,000 being the figure in England, £174,000 in Wales, £196,000 in Scotland and £158,000 in Northern Ireland.

Chief executive of estate agent haart, Paul Smith, said: “Our most recent data shows there are 12 buyers chasing every new property instruction, and I expect this number to increase before the end of the year, creating an even more competitive market.”