Britain's Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell to 1.7 percent in February, down from 1.8 percent in January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Wednesday.
"Since November 2018, the largest upward contribution to the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers' housing costs (CPIH) inflation rate has come from housing and household services," said the ONS, adding that "in February 2020, it contributed 0.52 percentage points to the headline rate of 1.7 percent."
"There was a slight slowing in the rate of inflation due mainly to falling prices for motor fuels and computer games," said Mike Hardie, head of inflation at the ONS.
The CPI in February remains below the Bank of England's 2 percent target for inflation.
Meanwhile, figures revealed that average house prices across Britain peaked at around 231,000 pounds (about 273,440.47 U.S. dollars) in January 2020, about 3,000 pounds (3,551.17 dollars) higher than in January 2019.
The country's average house prices increased by 1.3 percent over the year to January 2020, down from 1.7 percent in December 2019.
London house prices remained the most expensive at an average of 477,000 pounds (564,636.82 dollars), with an increase of 1.4 percentage over the year to January 2020.
"Annual house prices continued to show growth across most of the UK, but tailed off from the increases seen last month. Yorkshire and the Humber saw the highest annual growth, but three English regions fell, with the East of England seeing the biggest decrease," Hardie said.
Source: Xinhua |
