UK house prices continue to rise - ONS

UK house prices jumped in October, official data showed on Wednesday, hitting fresh highs.

According to the Office for National Statistics, average UK house prices rose by 12.6% over the year to October, up from 9.9% in September.

However, much of the percentage change was caused by favourable comparables. Prices fell sharply in October 2021, after the Stamp Duty threshold reverted to £125,000 at the end of September. The ONS noted that house prices in September 2021 were also "slightly inflated", as buyers rushed to complete purchases ahead of the tax change, with prices falling 2.0% between September and October 2021.

The average UK house price in October 2022 was a record £296,000. That was £33,000 higher than the same month a year earlier but only 0.3% higher month-on-month. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, prices rose 0.7% month-on-month.

Gabriella Dickens, senior UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "The official measures of house prices continued to rise in October because it is based on completed transactions, which in turn depend on mortgage offers made a few months earlier.

"Timelier measures suggest that the official measure of house prices will start to fall by the end of this year.

"Admittedly, mortgage rates have started to fall from October’s peaks, but only at a glacial pace."

Mortgage rates shot up in the autumn, after the government’s disastrous mini-budget on 23 September - which included £45bn of unfunded tax cuts but no spending plans or economic forecasts - sparked market turmoil.