House prices rising?

BBC News reports:

House prices increased year-on-year for the first time in six months in October, with a 0.8% rise, the Nationwide Building Society has said.

Prices went up by 0.4% in October compared with the previous month, the building society said, making the average home worth £165,650.

With inflation running at over 5% [1], that sounds like a significant real-terms fall to me.

The press release that serves as the basis for the BBC report is here (PDF). It confirms that "all changes are nominal and do not allow for inflation".
Lazy journalism from the BBC!

[1] 5.2% CPI, 5.6% RPI according to the September 2011 data from the ONS (released 18 October 2011).