London unsurprisingly continues to see the highest house prices at £484,000.
The average UK house price in December 2016 was £220,000 which is a 7% increase from the same period in 2015.
North of the border in Scotland, the average price increased by 3.5% over the year to stand at £142,000, an increase of 3.5%.
Ishaan Malhi, chief executive and founder of Trussle, said: “House price growth picked up significantly in December, making it even harder for the current generation of hopeful first-time buyers to afford a home.
“It's critical that the government delivers on last week’s pledge to ‘fix the broken housing market’ by boosting supply and keeping prices in check.”
London unsurprisingly continues to see the highest house prices at £484,000 closely followed by the South East and East of England – a region which also saw the highest annual growth of 11.3%.
The North East continues to see the lowest average house prices in the country at £129,000.
Jeremy Duncombe, director, Legal & General Mortgage Club, said: “The continuing rise in house prices these figures highlight defines the current crisis in the housing market.
“Whereas traditionally the last month of the year would see a fall in activity as buyers focus on the festivities, today’s statistics confirm that demand held strong in December.
“With mortgage providers continuing to keep rates low, this is a trend that will likely continue in 2017, particularly as the Government’s measures on housing will take time to affect the market.”
Simon Checkley, managing director at Private Finance, added: “Although mortgage lending fell slightly in Q4, if we take a step back and assess the year as a whole, the market has performed remarkably well.
“Despite changes to stamp duty and the uncertainty caused by the EU referendum, house purchase lending rose in 2016, driven by in part by significant growth in the number in the number of first time buyers.
“Buyer demand has remained strong despite annual house price growth of just over 7%, with low mortgage rates helping to maintain affordability.
“This level of growth in lending is not expected to be sustained in 2017, however as while the market survived the initial shock of the referendum vote, the real challenge arguably lies ahead.
“That said, we can be quietly confident that the market is in good shape to take on another potentially turbulent period.”
Mike Prestwood, head of inflation at ONS,concluded: “Both house prices and rents continue to grow over the year but with some signs of a slowdown in recent months.”
