HOUSE prices have surged by nearly £16,000 in a year to hit a record high.
The typical property cost £238,831 last month, Nationwide Building Society found.
The annual rate of growth rebounded to 7.1 per cent in April, from 5.7 per cent in March as the stamp duty holiday was extended.
The month-on-month rise was 2.1 per cent, the biggest recorded since 2004.
And there is no sign of a slowdown, the building society says, with growth heading for double digits by the summer.
Prices have been surging in lockdown, fuelled partly by the stamp duty break.
Buyers have also been tempted by low interest rates even though a shortage of homes for sale has been driving prices up.
The highest annual price growth hit a peak of 7.3 per cent in December.
Nationwide’s Robert Gardner said: “There is scope for annual house price growth to accelerate further in the coming months.”
Meanwhile, Wallasey in Merseyside has become the country’s top property hotspot, with asking prices up by more than 15 per cent in a year, Rightmove reports.