The average house price in the UK in December 2005 stood at £185,788, down marginally from £185,848 in November, the government’s official house price index showed today.

Average prices for bungalows and semi-detached houses fell by 1.0% and 0.9% respectively while prices for terraced houses rose by 1.3%.

UK annual house price inflation in December 2005 was 2.9%, up from 2.2% in November. Annual house price inflation in London was 3.8% in December 2005, up from 1.5% in November.

UK annual house price inflation rate for the 3 months to December 2005 was 2.2% and 1.4% in London.

Regional data

In the home countries, England, and Scotland saw rises in annual inflation in December, while inflation fell in Wales and Northern Ireland. The inflation rate in England rose from 1.4% in November to 2.1% in December and in Scotland rose from 8.3% to 10.9%.

Over the same period, the inflation rate in Wales fell from 5.7% to 5.1% and in Northern Ireland the rate fell from 17.6% to 12.9%.

House price inflation rose in seven of the English regions but fell in the other two. The highest inflation rates remain in the north in North West (7.6%), North East (6.5%), and in Yorkshire and the Humber (6.3%).

Inflation rates were lower in other parts of England; in London (3.8%), West Midlands (1.8%) and South West (0.8%). House prices in the East Midlands were unchanged over the previous year and inflation rates in the East, and South East regions were -1.4% and -0.3% respectively.

Mix-adjusted average house prices in December were £194,569 in England, £148,471 in Wales, £127,650 in Scotland and £137,112 in Northern Ireland.

The English region with the highest average house price in November remains London at £268,517. The lowest average price was in the North East at £135,968.

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

House price inflation: Type of buyer

The UK house price inflation rate for first-time buyers fell from 4.5% in November to 4.1% in December. This was due to a rise of 0.3% in prices between November and December of properties bought by first-time buyers compared with and a larger rise of 0.7% over the same period last year.

The inflation rate for former owner-occupiers rose from 1.4% in November to 2.5% in December. This was due to a fall of 0.1% in prices between November and December in the properties bought by former owner occupiers, compared with a larger fall of 1.2% over the same period last year.

The average price paid by first time buyers across the whole of the UK was £152,683 in December, while the average price paid by former owner-occupiers was £200,768.