The gap between house prices in London and other major regional cities is at its widest for 20 years, according Hometrack’s UK Cities House Price Index.

Despite reports of a reduction in the gap between regional house prices, these city level figures, confirm that the slowdown in London is not happening as fast as some expected, with 4.6% growth in the three months to August and a 10% increase in the last 12 months. This is despite the ratio of average prices to earnings exceeding twelve times – a record high.

Overall city level house price inflation is running at 8.3% up from 6.6% in May. A 38% uplift in mortgage approvals for home purchase in the last 6 months shows the scale of mortgage based demand attracted by ever lower mortgage rates. A similar expansion has been recorded in sales volumes, which has translated into higher prices across UK cities.

Bristol is almost half (-47%) the price of London, while Leeds (-67%), Manchester (-68%), Birmingham (-69%) and Newcastle (-72%) are considerably cheaper. However, in Liverpool and Glasgow (both -75%) you can currently buy four properties for the price of one in London.