House price inflation has evened out across England, with house prices rising at roughly the same rate across the country for the first time in more than 20 years.

All the regions of England experienced house price rises of between 5.5 per cent and 8.5 per cent over the last 12 months, the Halifax House Price Index revealed, which is the narrowest range since the index was started in 1983.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland, however, it was a different story, with house prices rising by 14.5 per cent in Scotland and a considerable 30 per cent in Northern Ireland in the past year.

Overall, house prices rose by one per cent across the UK in September, pushing the annual rate of house price inflation down to eight per cent.

Halifax said that they expected increased utility bills and higher interest rates to curb housing demand over the next few months, leading to a fall in house price inflation before the end of the year.

The view was supported by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) which said that housing demand was likely to cool gradually going into 2007 as a further interest rates hike was looking likely and house price rises had squeezed affordability for new buyers.

Return to News index