Home prices rose £18,000 on average around UK last year

In December 2015, the typical UK property was worth £288,000 - up from £270,000 on average in January last year, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show.

The house price data was released as separate figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed that lending to first-time buyers, home movers and buy-to-let investors reached its highest levels since 2007 in 2015.

House prices increased by 6.7% annually in December, although they dipped slightly by 0.2% month on month, according to the ONS’s data.

In Northern Ireland, house prices increased by 1.5% annually, taking the typical price of a home there to £148,000.

In England, property prices increased by 7.3% in the year to December, reaching £301,000 on average. House price growth in England was driven by a 9.7% annual price increase in the East, a 9.4% annual price uplift in London and 8.8% year-on-year growth in property values in the South East.

London continues to be the most expensive region for house prices, with the average price of a property at £536,000.

The cheapest region in England for house prices is the North East, where the typical cost of a home is £155,000.

In Wales, house prices increased by 1% annually to reach £175,000 on average. Scotland saw prices dip by 0.2% annually, taking the average value of a home there to £193,000.

First-time buyers faced paying 6.4% more for a property in December than they would have paid a year earlier. The average price paid for a starter home in December 2015 was £219,000, the ONS figures showed.