Property prices across England and Wales have increased for the sixth month in a row, according to the Land Registry.

House prices now average at £165,596 for the two regions and the rise from March to April was 0.2 per cent.

The organisation said: "Annual house price change in England and Wales has remained positive … with a [year-on-year] movement of 8.5 per cent in April."

It added that this is "the highest annual change figure recorded since September 2007".

London experienced the largest yearly increase at 14.8 per cent, making it the area with the fastest growing property price rises, whereas Yorkshire & the Humber only experienced a 0.7 per cent increment.

The biggest monthly growth was in the north-east, which encountered a 3.1 per cent rise in property prices.

Despite this, the number of monthly property sales increased from 32,089 between November 2008 and February 2009 to more than 53,000 over the same period in 2009-10.