The annual increase represented a recovery in pricing after house prices had dropped by 0.2% in the 12 months to February
Average UK house prices have risen for the first time since June last year, indicating potential green shoots in the UK’s property market.
Meanwhile, rampant rent price inflation also slowed down marginally in the latest set of official data.
The ONS found average house prices rose by 1.8% in the 12 months to March.
This lifted the average house price across the UK to £283,000, up from £281,000 in the previous month.
The annual increase represented a recovery in pricing after house prices had dropped by 0.2% in the 12 months to February.
ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner noted: Average UK house prices rose over the year for the first time since last summer.
House prices saw an annual rise in every nation and region, except London and the South East, with Scotland seeing the fastest annual growth, he added.
Average house prices in England were 1% higher to £299,000, while properties saw a 1.3% average rise to £214,000 in Wales and 6.7% average rise to £192,000 in Scotland in the 12 months to March.
Average house prices in Northern Ireland were 4% higher to £178,000 for the first three months of 2024, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
It comes as interest rates remain at a 16-year-high of 5.25% after hikes by the BoE in a bid to grapple growing inflation.
Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, noted: Buyers have finally squeezed some growth out of the property market.
They have not exactly set the market on fire, but it they have warmed it up enough to push prices into positive territory for the first time in almost a year, she said.
She added: It is a much more comfortable place to be buying right now.
On Wednesday, the ONS also revealed that UK private rents rose by 8.9% in the 12 months to April.
This is a slowdown from 9.2% for the 12 months to March, with rental price inflation dropping for the first time since December last year.
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