House prices in Waverley crept up by 0.7 per cent in February, contributing to a 3.9 per cent rise over the last 12 months.

The latest data from the Office of National Statistics shows that the average property in the area sold for £454,075 - significantly higher than the UK average of £225,047.

Across the South East, property prices have risen by four per cent in the last year, to £322,489.

The region underperformed compared to the UK as whole, which saw the average property value increase by 4.4 per cent.

The data comes from the House Price Index, which the ONS compiles using house sale information from the Land Registry, and the equivalent bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The average homeowner in Waverley will have seen their property jump in value by around £118,000 in the last five years.

The figures also showed that buyers who made their first step onto the property ladder in Waverley in February spent an average of £337,131 - around £128,000 more than it would have cost them five years ago.

Addressing the national picture, Lawrence Bowles, the associate director of the research team at the estate agents Savills, said: “Generally, we are seeing somewhat slower growth than we have been previously.

“Despite much stronger consumer confidence in the spending power of the pound, last month we saw the 12th consecutive month of lower buyer enquiries, and seventh of sales enquiries.

“The ongoing Brexit negotiations form a big part of that, but it is also related to the signs from the Bank of England that we are likely to see the base rates increase, and the knock-on effect that will have on the mortgage rates.”

Between January and December last year, the most recent 12 months for which sales volume data is available, 1,988 homes were sold in Waverley, one per cent fewer than in the previous year.

The highest house prices in the country in February were found in Kensington and Chelsea, where properties sold for an average of £1,409,606.

This is 18 times the cost of a home in Burnley, where the average home cost just £79,208.