• High-end estate agent Strutt & Parker forecasts 'best case' 7% growth for 2022

• Says UK home could rise 35% in value between 2020 and 2025 

• Growth still being driven by countryside locations as space at a premium

• Separate report reveals Lancashire and Merseyside towns had biggest growth

The average property price could still grow by up to 7 per cent in 2022, according to one forecast – as separate research revealed that Merseyside and Lancashire towns have seen the biggest collective price growth since the pandemic began. 

High-end estate agent Strutt & Parker has predicted that prices will increase by 7 per cent next year in an 'best case' scenario, though it also made a 'downside' prediction of 2 per cent growth. 

The value of a home hit record highs during the pandemic as buyers searched for more space and benefited from the stamp duty holiday, which enabled them to save up to £15,000 in taxes between July 2020 and June 2021.

UK-wide house price growth reached 10.3 per cent in the year to September 2021, the report said, the highest annual figure since September 2014.  

Housing transactions over the same period reached 442,930, the highest recorded since the third quarter of 2007.

The end of the stamp duty holiday and the prospect of an increase in mortgage rates have led many to predict that house price growth will slow down in the coming months, though this has not yet materialised. 

By Helen Crane For This Is Money