UK house prices rose 7% in the year to October, up from 6.1% the month before, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

However, the house price index confirmed house prices are rising in a patchy way across the UK, with annual inflation hitting 6.4% in England, 1% in Wales, 0.9% in Scotland and 10.3% in Northern Ireland.

Growth has been driven by an increase of 10.4% in the East and 9.5% in the South East. In fact, when you exclude London from the data, prices only rose by 5.6% across the UK.

Affordability stretched

Affordability continues to be a problem for many buyers, with the average house price in England hitting £300,000, £196,000 in Scotland, £174,000 in Wales and £158,000 in Northern Ireland.

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First-time buyers are paying 5.9% more to secure their first homes than this time last year, with owner occupiers paying 7.4% higher prices.

Jeremy Duncombe, director of Legal & General Mortgage Club, said: “Today’s figures from the ONS show a marked month-on-month increase in house prices for October, as lack of supply and rising demand continue to make homeownership more unaffordable.”

He added: “House prices have risen strongly throughout the year, well beyond the level of inflation and wage growth and, without a strong supply-side initiative from the Government, will likely rise well into 2016.”