The government’s house price index published today by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, shows UK annual house price inflation in November 2005 was 2.5%, up from 1.8% in October 2005.

Annual house price inflation in London was 2.2% in November, up from -0.5% in October.

These ODPM house price index figures are based on completions during the month of November. Other recent indicators have been based on asking prices in December or prices based on mortgages approved during December. Therefore the ODPM figures are not directly comparable with these other indicators.

The UK house price inflation rate rose from 1.8% in October 2005 to 2.5% in November 2005. Prices rose by 0.6% between October and November, compared to a fall of 0.2% seen over the same period last year.

The UK annual house price inflation rate for the 3 months to November 2005 was 2.5% and 1.2% in London.

The rise in UK prices between October and November can be attributed to rises in average prices for all dwelling types. In particular, prices for flats and bungalows both rose by 1.0% while prices for semi-detached houses rose by 0.9%.

In the home countries, England, and Northern Ireland saw rises in annual inflation in November, while inflation fell in Wales and Scotland. The inflation rate in England rose from 0.9% in October to 1.7% in November and in Northern Ireland rose from 10.7% to 17.0%. Over the same period, the inflation rate in Wales fell from 8.8% to 6.5% and in Scotland the rate fell from 9.3% to 8.9%.

House price inflation rose in six of the English regions but fell in the other three. The highest inflation rates remain in the north in Yorkshire and the Humber (6.2%), North West (6.1%) and in North East (4.8%). Inflation rates were much lower in other parts of England; in London (2.2%), West Midlands (1.8%) and South East (0.1%). House prices in the East were unchanged over the previous year and inflation rates in the East Midlands, and South West were both -0.2%. The inflation rate for East Midlands fell below zero because prices fell between October and November by 0.2% compared with a rise of 1.6% in the same period last year.

Mix-adjusted average house prices in November were £195,319 in England, £148,719 in Wales, £127,857 in Scotland and £136,231 in Northern Ireland.

The English region with the highest average house price in November remains London at £270,029. The lowest average price was in the North East at £134,878.

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

House price inflation by type of buyer

The UK house price inflation rate for first-time buyers fell from 4.7% in October to 4.3% in November. This was due to prices of the properties bought by first-time buyers remaining almost unchanged between October and November compared with and a rise of 0.4% over the same period last year.

The inflation rate for former owner-occupiers rose from 0.7% in October to 1.9% in November. This was due to a rise of 0.7% in prices between October and November in the properties bought by former owner-occupiers, compared with a fall of 0.4% over the same period last year.

The average price paid by first-time buyers across the whole of the UK was £151,977 in November, while the average price paid by former owner-occupiers was £202,000.