According to the report from Halifax Bank of Scotland, house prices in December were 4.0% higher than in the same month a year earlier. Economists had expected a 1.5% increase. On a monthly basis, house prices rose by 1.7%. Economists had expected a 0.2% decrease.

In the latest quarter (October to December) house prices were 1.0% higher than in the preceding three months (July to September)

Russell Galley, Managing Director, Halifax, said: "Average house prices rose by 4% over 2019, at the top of our predicted range of 2% to 4% growth for the year. This was driven by a monthly gain of 1.7% in December which was the biggest monthly increase of 2019, pushing up the year-on-year growth rate and reflecting that December 2018 was a particularly weak month. Looking ahead, we expect uncertainty in the economy to ease somewhat in 2020, which should see transaction volumes increase and further price growth made possible by an improvement in households' real incomes".