house prices in the North-west went up at a faster rate than most other parts of the country last year, according to the Nationwide Building Society.
The 3.1 per cent increase was bettered only by the Yorkshire and Humberside region, where prices went up 5.3 per cent.
The Nationwide Building Society said Northern Ireland saw the strongest house price growth during the past year, with the average cost of a home there rising by 13.2 per cent.
The region was the only part of the UK to report double digit percentage price increases, with Scotland second with growth of 9.3 per cent during 2005.
Across the UK, house prices rose by an average of 1.5 per cent during the three months to the end of December - the biggest quarterly increase for more than a year.
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