House prices picked up slightly last month, despite the summer’s financial crisis and mounting concerns over the health of the property market, official data indicated.

The Land Registry reported that completion prices in England and Wales rose by 0.4 per cent to an average price of £183,896 in September. That followed a 0.2 per cent increase in August.

However, the headline figure for annual house price inflation fell as strong figures from a year ago dropped out of the calculation. Prices were up by 8.7 per cent in the year to September, compared with a 9.4 per cent year-on-year rise the previous month.

Other more forward-looking indicators have suggested that asking prices and prices at exchange may be slackening. Halifax, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, reported a 0.6 per cent drop in prices at the point of exchange in September, the first fall since the start of the year. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ survey suggested that prices fell in September at their fastest pace in two years.

The Land Registry figures showed a wide disparity between regions. Yorkshire and the Humber overtook London as the region with the highest monthly house price growth, with an increase of 2 per cent.

London’s house price rise stood at 1.3 per cent in September, a slight dip from last month’s increase of 1.5 per cent.

At the other end of the scale, prices in four regions - the West Midlands, the South West, the South East and the East Midlands – fell on the month. The West Midlands suffered the biggest fall, of 0.7 per cent, and prices rose there by just 4.1 per cent year-on-year.

Flats and maisonettes recorded the sharpest price rises. Semidetached houses underwent the slowest growth, although the difference was small.

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