Average London house prices soared 19.1% in the year to July, taking them past the half a million pound mark to reach a new record of £514,000.

Prices in the south-east also rose sharply at 12%, taking house prices to £337,000 on average.

Excluding London and the south-east, annual house price inflation was 7.9%.

The slowest regional growth in England was in Yorkshire & The Humber where prices rose 5% to £174,000.

House prices in the UK as a whole rose 11.7% in the year to stand at £272,000 in July.

On a country by country basis, prices grew 12% in England to reach £284,000 in July. In Wales, average prices rose 7.4% to £171,000. In Scotland, house price inflation of 7.6% took values to £198,000. In Northern Ireland, there was 4.5% growth, with the average house price £139,000 in July.

The figures are all from the Office for National Statistics, and are in sharp contrast to the Land Registry, which also reports on official house prices.

For July, the Land Registry put house prices in England and Wales far lower at an average of £175,653 – very nearly £100,000 less than the UK price given by the ONS.

The Land Registry and ONS figures regularly receive equal prominence in the national media without anyone appearing to notice the massive discrepancy.