Average UK house prices have broken through the £100,000 barrier for the first time while mortgage lending over December showed little sign of abating.

According to Halifax, the banking group, the mean cost of a house in 2006 throughout all 101 the UK's counties and unitary authorities is now more than £100,000, compared with five years ago when prices in 63 counties fell below the new average.

At the same time, the Building Societies Association said that seasonally adjusted approvals - mortgages that have been paid out to borrowers - rose to £5.4 billion in December up from £4.1 billion year-on-year.

Overall, gross advances, mortgages that have been approved but are yet to be paid out, increased to £4.6 billion in December 2006 on a previous £3.9 billion.

The British Bankers’ Association also said that mortgage lending had increased in the final month of last year, up 0.3 per cent to £1.2 billion. Overall during 2006, net mortgage lending rose by 20 per cent to £66.8 billion.

Throughout the UK, the ten counties that delivered the largest increases were in Wales and Scotland. Merthyr Tydfil recorded the largest rise in house prices over the past five years, up 175 per cent, from £45,578 in 2001 to £125,450 in 2006.

The trend was also evident in other areas in Wales, where the next five best performing counties are based. The average price in Blaenau Gwent rose by 160 per cent to £107,451 over five years and in Carmarthenshire, rose by 156 per cent to £157,149.

Clackmannanshire, in Scotland, recorded an increase of 135 per cent, which now puts the average cost of buying a house at £137,683 and in East Ayrshire, where costs rose 133 per cent, an average property is now worth £128,097.

Surrey remains the most expensive county with the average price at £328,453. In 2001, Surrey was the only county where the mean cost of a property was more than £200,000. In 2006, 19 of the UK’s 101 counties saw the average cost of real estate exceed £200,000.

In the rest of England, Durham and Yorkshire’s East Riding recorded the largest rises over the past five years, with average prices increasing by 127 per cent and 121 per cent respectively.

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