More than 70 local areas have bucked the national house price downturn and seen prices rise over the last year, according to Halifax.

Some areas, particularly those which are mainly rural, have seen double digit growth, despite the average UK house price falling 3.9% year-on-year, according to the mortgage provider.

The Halifax House Price Index looked at typical house prices in more than 300 local authority areas across the UK in the three months up to September this year and compared them to the equivalent figures from 2022.

While every region in the UK has seen prices fall on average by between 0.2% and 5.7% year-on-year, there are local areas in every region that have bucked the downward trend.

Moray in Scotland has seen the biggest increase in house prices in Scotland over the last year with typical prices up 10.7%. 

That’s despite the average Scottish property falling 0.8% during that time.

Moray, home to many whisky distilleries, is popular with golfers and those wanting to see the colony of bottle-nose dolphins living in the Moray Firth.

However, the data is based on the lender’s approved mortgage applications. This means it excludes mortgage applications with all other lenders.

It also doesn’t include cash buyer transactions, which this year are making up around a third of all sales, according to Zoopla. Normally, cash buyers only account for one in five sales.