House prices in the UK increased by 4.2% during the last three months of 2006 with the market in Northern Ireland continuing to outperform elsewhere, new figures show.
The Halifax House Price Index found that average house prices rose to £186,954 in the fourth quarter, pushing the annual rate of inflation up to 9.9%
Northern Ireland recorded the biggest rise between October and December, with prices up 15.9% to £196,874.
Greater London remains the most expensive part of the UK to live, with average house prices pushed up to £287,176 following an increase of 6.6% in the Autumn months.
The smallest regional increase during the fourth quarter was recorded in the North, with an increase of just 0.9%.
Looking at data over the past decade, Northern Ireland has achieved the strongest regional house growth, with the average property price up 265% since 1996.
London, the South West and East Anglia have also seen prices more than triple over the last decade, Halifax said.
According to the lender, the north-south house price divide at the end of 2006 was slightly wider than a decade earlier.
The average property price in the south was 1.59 times higher than its counterpart in the north in the fourth quarter of 2006, compared with 1.43 times higher in the last quarter of 1996.
This reverses the trend of recent years - in 2003, 2004 and 2005 the gap narrowed, according to Halifax figures.
