House prices in England and Wales were 7.7 per cent higher in the second quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2005, according to a report published today by the Land Registry.

The official data, which records the price of every property sold, confirms that the housing market enjoyed a resurgence in the spring. Recent reports from Halifax and Nationwide, the lenders, suggest this momentum continued in the summer.

Halifax was prompted to raise its forecast for house price inflation for the whole of 2006 from 3 per cent to 5 per cent.