LONDON, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Britain's Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose to six-month high of 1.8 percent in January, up from 1.3 percent in December 2019, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Wednesday.
Data showed that housing and household services continued to make the largest contribution to inflation, with transport offering the second largest upward factor. The CPI remains below the Bank of England's 2 percent target for inflation.
Mike Hardie, head of inflation at the ONS, said: "The rise in inflation is largely the result of higher prices at the pump and airfares falling by less than a year ago."
"In addition, gas and electricity prices were unchanged this month, but fell this time last year due to the introduction of the energy price cap," Hardie added.
Meanwhile, figures revealed that average house prices across Britain peaked at around 235,000 pounds (about 305,175.8 U.S. dollars) in December 2019. The country's average house prices increased by 2.2 percent over the year to December 2019, up from 1.7 percent in November 2019.
"Annual house prices grew across all regions of the UK, the first time this has happened in nearly two years, with London seeing its strongest growth since October 2017," Hardie said. Enditem
