The region with the most significant monthly price increase was Wales with a rise of 3.6% whilst the South West registered the largest decline with a drop of 0.8%.
On an annual basis London registered the largest increase with a rise of 6.3% and Yorkshire and the Humber have had the biggest decline as prices fell by 0.9%.
Peter Williams, executive director of IMLA, said:“A 1% annual increase in the average house price to £162,606 is relatively modest, but the real question following last week’s Budget announcements is whether we’ll be saying the same next year?
“There was already a consensus among intermediary lenders at the turn of the year that the average price may pass £164,000 by the summer. With Help to Buy’s equity loan scheme starting next week and the mortgage guarantee programme on the horizon, the ingredients are certainly there to push house prices higher still.
“Like the FLS Help to Buy is a policy with a limited lifespan whereas the need to increase the supply of property in the market is a long-term challenge that will become more pressing as time passes.”
The report found that despite concerns about supply transaction volumes have remained relatively stable.
Sale volumes averaged 56,886 in the last quarter of 2012, compared to 61,392 in the same period in 2011.
The Land Registry also released repossession figures for the final quarter of last year. In the last quarter of 2012 repossession volumes fell and averaged 1,440 per month.
Regionally London was the only place to see an increase in the number of repossession and the region with the greatest fall was the South East.
