House prices rise according to government

Its been a week of continuous house prices news from all angles and now the government has chipped in with the Department for Communities and Local Government's house price index reporting that house prices rose by 1.1% in April. Figures showed that the average price paid for a home in the UK being £189,215, a 1.1% increase from the average in March (£187,193).

House prices in the UK were still 13% down compared with the same period last year and despite April's increase, house prices fell by 3% in the quarter leading up to the end of the month.

The department said that the monthly increase was due to a 2% rise in the average price of terraced houses, a 1% rise for semi-detached houses, a 0.9% rise for flats and a 0.7% rise for detached houses. It was offset by a 0.7% fall in the average price of bungalows.

Prices for first-time buyers are 16% lower than at this time last year, and the prices for former owner-occupiers are 11.9% lower.