LONDON, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Average house price in London is reaching nearly half a million pounds (611,300 U.S. dollars), figures Tuesday from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.
January data show an annual price increase of 6.5 percent across England, taking the average property value to 234,794 pounds (292,488 U.S. dollars), a rise of just under 1 percent compared with December, 2016.
In British capital London, an annual price increase of 7.3 percent has taken the average property value to 490,718 pounds (611,300 U.S.dollars), the highest average price in Britain.
The ONS figures show London house prices in January were 3 percent higher than in December 2016. A rise of just 2 percent in the upcoming February figures would send London prices crashing for the first time through the half-million pound figure.
The neighboring southeast region of England recorded the second highest average property price at 319,000 pounds (397,400 U.S. dollars).
In Wales, an annual price increase of 4.2 percent takes the average property value to 145,933 pounds (181,792 U.S. dollars), a fall of 0.6 percent compared with December.
In Scotland, the average price increased by 4 percent over the year to stand at 142,000 pounds (176,892 U.S. dollars). The average price in Northern Ireland is currently 125,000 pounds (155,715 U.S. dollars), an increase of 5.7 percent over the last 12 months.
The biggest annual property increases came in the east of England region which in January showed a 9.4 percent rise.
Further north in the Yorkshire and Humber region, house prices fell by 2.6 percent in January compared with a month earlier.
