Figures released yesterday from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister show the pace of house price inflation has strengthened from a nine-year low in August.

The report shows UK house price inflation rate rose from 2.8% in August 2005 to 3.3% in September 2005. Prices rose by 0.3% between August and September, compared to a small fall of 0.2% seen over the same period last year.

The rise in UK prices between August and September can be attributed to rises in average price of most dwelling types. In particular, prices rose for detached houses, by 1.6%, bungalows, by 0.7% and other dwelling types rose or fell by less than 0.1%.

In the home countries, England, Wales and Northern Ireland saw rises in annual inflation in September, while Scotland saw a fall. The inflation rate in England rose from 1.9% in August to 2.5% in September; in Wales the inflation rate rose from 6.6% to 6.8%; and in Northern Ireland the rise was from 11.9% to 16.7%. Over the same period, in Scotland the rate fell from 11.2% to 10.1%.

House price inflation rose in five of the English regions but fell in the other four. The highest inflation remains in the north in North West (7.9%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (7.1%). Inflation rates were lower in the North East (3.9%) and West Midlands (3.4%) and East Midlands (2.1%).

Inflation was below 2% in the East, London, and South East and lowest in the South West, where inflation fell from 0.1% in August to -0.6% in September, due to a rise in prices between August and September this year of 0.3% compared with a rise of 0.9% in the same period last year.

House prices: regional

Mix-adjusted average house prices in September were £195,679 in England, £146,682 in Wales, £128,477 in Scotland and £136,799 in Northern Ireland.

The English region with the highest average house price in March remains London at £269,927. The lowest average price was in the North East at £132,678.

Only the East, London, South East and the South West had average prices above the UK average.

The UK house price inflation rate for first time buyers fell from 5.6% in August to 5.0% in September. This was due to a small fall of 0.4% in prices between August and September in the properties bought by first time buyers, compared with a small rise of 0.2% seen over the same period last year.

The inflation rate for former owner-occupiers rose from 1.8% in August to 2.6% in September. This was due to a small rise of 0.5% in prices between August and September in the properties bought by former owner-occupiers, compared with a slight fall of 0.3% over the same period last year.

The average price paid by first time buyers across the whole of the UK was £152,643 in September, while the average price paid by former owner-occupiers was £202,130.