LONDON, Feb 9 - British house prices gained 8.3 percent in December, official figures showed on Monday, down from 9.7 percent the month before, suggesting the housing market may be cooling. The data, published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, showed the mid-adjusted average house price in the UK stood at 162,689 pounds last month, up from 159,480 pounds. The figures are not seasonally adjusted.
Annual house price inflation in London slipped again, to just 3.8 percent in December from 5.2 percent in November. House prices are a closely-watched economic indicator in Britain where two-thirds of families own their own homes and whose consumer spending has recently been buoyed by the rising value of those properties. Earlier on Monday the Land Registry said the average property price in England and Wales climbed by 12.62 percent in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier, up from the 10.62 percent rise in third quarter.//