New build prices up 12pc in five years

The average new build house now has an average price of £233,822 and is some 9% than the UK average house price for all properties.

Craig McKinlay, new mortgages director for Halifax, said: "In a relatively flat housing market the new homes market has changed enormously over the past five years.

“We have seen a lot of positive sentiment towards the new homes market with various schemes launched to get the house building industry moving and changes in policies and deposit requirements allowing shared equity buyers to participate more fully in the new build market.”

Halifax’s analysis also found that new build prices have increased by 40% during the last ten years.

Regionally the biggest rise in the past ten years has been in Greater London where the average price for a new home has risen by 57% to £415,540.

The north-south divide is as prevalent in the price of the new homes market as it is in the overall market.

Over the past five years more than half of UK regions saw the average price of new homes fall with the north experiencing the greatest fall of 10%to an average of £157,190.

In 2012 flats (37%) were the most popular type of new property sold followed by terraced homes (24%) and detached properties (23%).

Yorkshire and the Humber had the greatest proportion of terraced properties sold (30%) with Greater London seeing the highest proportion of sales of new build flats in 2012 (88%).