British house price increases by 8.4 pct in Jan.

Britain's house prices increased by 8.4 percent in the year to January 2015, down from 9.8 percent in the year to December 2014, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Tuesday.

Data showed that average price of British houses, which is not seasonally adjusted, was 273,000 pounds (or 407,000 U.S. dollars) in January, higher than the piror year's 252,000 pounds.

House prices in England increased by 8.5 percent on year-on-year (yoy) basis in January. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland saw 4.9 percent, 7.8 percent and 7.3 percent yoy increase respectively over the same period, data showed.

Annual house price growth is beginning to show signs of slowing across the majority of Britain, said the government's statistics arm.

London was still acting as the main driver of the increase, with a growth of 13 percent, following by the East England (9.9 percent) and the South East England (7.6 percent).

Excluding London and South East England, however, British house prices grew by 6.5 percent in the 12 months to January 2015, figures showed.

Over the same period, prices paid by the first-time buyers increased by 9.7 percent on yoy basis. For the existing owners, prices grew by 7.8 percent, data also showed. (1 pound = 1.49 U.S. dollars) Endit