Halifax said house prices rose 1.1% in April, lifting the average price to £166,000.

Prices are still 16.8% below the peak of August 2007 when the average figure was £199,600, but are at their highest since August 2010.

Many shops located in the north are paying business rates well above the rental value of the property they occupy.

The government’s decision to postpone a revaluation of business rates from 2015 to 2017 will mean many northern stores ‘paying over the odds’, according to the British Council of Shopping Centres and Colliers International.

New research showed that the initial costs of buying a home are increasing much faster than wages or rents.

The Chartered Institute of Housing said the average cost of the first year of home ownership was more than £70,000 last year, compared with £9,600 for renting.

Average household income has risen 12% in the last 10 years.

New figures from Nationwide show house prices remained static with just a 0.1% fall.

The average value of a home was now £165,586, as the number of new mortgages edged upwards.