London saw the strongest growth in 2011 but there was less regional variation in house prices compared with previous years. The price of a typical home is now £163,822.
Commenting on the figures, Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said: "The 1% rise in house prices recorded over the past twelve months could hardly be described as a strong performance, but against a backdrop of anaemic economic growth and a deteriorating labour market, UK house prices were surprisingly resilient in 2011.
"Resilience was less evident in other areas of housing market activity in 2011. For example, the number of mortgage approvals remained low, at just over half the long-term average.”
