UK house price inflation slows to 16-month low

(Sharecast News) - House price inflation slowed to a 16-month low in January, according to data from the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday, while rents inflation held steady at its lowest level in nearly four years. House prices averaged £268,000 across England, Scotland and Wales over the 12 months to January, marking a year-on-year increase of 1.3%, the ONS said.

The annual increase was down from the 1.9% rate seen in December, and the weakest growth since September 2024.

Price inflation slowed across the board at the start of the year: falling to 1.1% from 1.7% in England, to 1.3% from 4.9% in Scotland and to 2.0% from 5.0% in Wales. For Northern Ireland, the most recent data is for the fourth quarter of 2025, and so was not included in overall statistics.

Regions up North continued to see the highest rates of annual price inflation, led by the North West (3.1%, down from 4.5% in December) and Yorkshire and The Humber (3.0%, down from 3.3%), while price falls across London intensified (-1.7% from -1.0%).

Meanwhile, year-on-year price changes across the wider South turned negative, falling 0.5% in the South East (after no change in December) and by 0.1% in the South West (up 0.3% previously).

As for rents, UK monthly private rents averaged £1,374 in the 12 months to February, up 3.5% over last year and in line with the growth rate seen in January - which was the weakest since March 2022.