UK house prices up 9.8% in year to December – ONS

LONDON (Reuters) -British house prices rose by 9.8% year-on-year in December compared with the same month in 2021, the office for National statistics (ONS) said on Wednesday.

The increase was lower than November’s revised 10.6% rise. Other measures of the housing market have also pointed to a cooling of demand and prices.

London saw the weakest annual price rise of all English regions with prices in the capital up 6.7%, the ONS said.

A Reuters poll of economists in November forecast house prices would fall by 5% this year, while analysts at Japanese bank Nomura expect a 15% drop by mid-2024.

(Reporting by Suban Abdulla, Editing by Paul Sandle and William Schomberg)