Govt: House prices cooled in June

The latest government figures show house prices in the UK cooled in June.

But while displaying less growth than last month, house prices are still some 5.2 per cent higher than last year, data from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) reveals.

"Whist the pace of house price inflation on the government's official measure has slowed somewhat, significant momentum remains in the market which has strengthened consistently since last August's interest rate cut," said a spokesman from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

In May, the DCLG figures showed stronger house price growth, at 5.6 per cent, but this was a 12-month high.

The average UK home is now worth £190,883.

But while house price growth slowed for the majority of Britons, there was bad news for first time buyers. House price inflation rose from 6.3 per cent in May to 6.8 per cent in June for this group - moving properties further out of the reach of prospective homeowners.

The average price of a first-time buyer home in the UK now stands at almost £150,000.

The most expensive place in the country to buy remains London, where prices average £279,763. Outside of London, only the east of England, the south-east, and south-west have prices ahead of the UK average.

By contrast the average price of a home in Wales was £155,041 in June, in Scotland it was £138,672, and in Northern Ireland the average property value was £149,784. In England the north-east has the cheapest properties at £138,998.

In terms of growth, house prices in Northern Ireland are some 18.5 per cent higher than in the same month last year, the largest increase of anywhere in the UK.

By contrast the East Midlands has the slowest growth rate - with house prices climbing just 1.9 per cent in the last 12 months. XXX