UK average house prices increased by 12.4% over the year to April 2022, according to the Office for National Statistics.

That’s up from annual house price inflation of 9.7% in March 2022.

The average UK house price rose to £281,000 in April 2022, £31,000 higher than this time last year, and almost the same as the average UK salary of £31,096.

Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Your home made almost as much as you did last year, at an impressive £31,000. At the same time, inflation has been eating away at the real value of your mortgage, so anyone who owns their own home is quids in. But delight for homeowners means agony for prospective first-time buyers.

“House prices have only risen faster than this once since the onset of the pandemic, and that was in the frantic rush of June 2021 when the stamp duty holiday’s most generous period was coming to an end. It has pushed house prices to an incredible new high.”

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Across the UK

House prices in England rose to £299,000 (up 11.9% over the year), to £212,000 in Wales (16.2%), in Scotland to £188,000 (16.2%) and in Northern Ireland to £165,000 (10.4%).

The South West was the region with the highest annual house price growth, with average prices increasing by 14.1% in the year to April 2022.

London continues to be the region with the lowest annual growth at 7.9%.

Nicky Stevenson, managing director of national estate agent group Fine & Country, said: “Though London remains the slowest of the regions, annual growth in the capital has almost doubled compared to the previous month’s data and prices of apartments are spiking too following a lull witnessed during the pandemic.

“While there has been a sense for some time that the housing market is approaching a crossroads, forecasts of a correction are so far proving very premature indeed.”