British house prices have surged by 30.6 per cent so far this year, according to the Halifax bank, Britain's biggest mortgage lender.
In October, house prices rose by 4.7 per cent - the biggest monthly increase since records began in 1983. The year-to-date rate is the highest since the late 1980s property boom, helping explain why the Bank of England did not cut interest rates from 4 per cent yesterday.
The latest rise brought the average house price in Britain, where two-thirds of people own their own homes, to £122,377 sterling. In Ireland the average house price stood at €197,960 or £126,500 sterling at the end of September, according to the Permanent TSB/ESRI property index.
The stronger-than-expected figures in Britain will fuel fears of a renewed price surge in house prices in the world's fourth-largest economy, despite evidence the markets in London and the southeast are cooling.
House prices soared in the late 1980s before dramatically crashing in the early 1990s as the British government increased interest rates and the British economy plunged into recession.