The UK Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) released figures this Monday which gave greater weight to the belief that house price inflation is finally slowing down.

In August, according to the figures, British house prices increased by 0.5% from July, meaning that the average price of a house now stands at £219,528. Last year the price rise from July to August was significantly higher, standing at 1.4%.

In addition to this, compared with the same time last year house prices in August have risen by 11.4%, which is a decrease from the figure of 12.4%, given for July of this year.

The apparent slow down in house price inflation has been attributed to the five interest rate increases by the Bank of England since summer 2006. In addition to this high house prices have meant fewer people have been taking out mortgages and buying houses. It seems houses are just getting too expensive for people to buy.

The DCLG figures are based on completed sales of houses rather than on the prices of houses currently for sale.