UK house prices rose 5.1% in July, says ONS

UK house prices rose by 5.1% in the year to the end of July, unchanged from the rate of expansion recorded in the previous month, official figures have shown.

This represented a £11,000 ($14,600) increase on the same month a year ago and a £2,000 increase on June, the Office for National Statistics said.

The average price of a house or a flat in Britain was at £226,000.

The annual growth rate of house prices has slowed since last summer, but has remained broadly around 5% this calendar year.

Prices increased fastest in England, at 5.4%, and slowest in Wales, where they rose 3.1%. Scotland and Northern Ireland saw house values rise by 4.8% and 4.4%, respectively.

Among the English regions, prices went up fastest in the east Midlands at 7.5%, followed by the east of England at 7.1%. The lowest annual growth was in London at 2.8%.

Separate figures released by the ONS showed that the cost of renting a home in the UK rose by 1.6% in the year to August compared to a 1.8% increase in July.