HOUSE prices in York and North Yorkshire are continuing to rise, according to latest figures.

The Land Registry's monthly price index for June shows that house values increased in the City of York Council area by 0.6 per cent to an average of £195,394.

This figure is almost £15,000 higher than the £181,039 average house price for the whole of England and Wales, but still massively lower than the average for London of £338,950.

The York district has seen a 9.1 per cent increase in prices over the last 12 months, says the registry.

Within North Yorkshire County Council's area, prices rose by 0.5 per cent in June to an average of £195,367, having seen an annual increase of 7.6 per cent.

Prices rose by 0.5 per cent in June within East Riding of Yorkshire Council's area to an average of £156,473, with the area having experienced a 7.4 per cent increase over 12 months.

The latest figures come just days after The Press revealed how a single lock-up garage in the city centre had sold for a staggering £40,000.

The Land Registry said there was evidence of increased growth rate divergence between London and the rest of the country.

The latest figures come only weeks after a different survey claimed that house prices in both York and North Yorkshire had shown their first decline in almost two years.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) housing market survey also showed that the number of new buyer inquiries had fallen for the second consecutive month.

The drop was blamed on a dramatic drop in the number of new buyer inquiries, following a rush of new instructions earlier in the year to beat the Home Information Pack deadline, along with a series of interest rate rises and the prospect of more to come.

Keith Hollinrake, of York estate agents Hunters, said today that the Land Registry figures related to property sales that had been agreed some three or four months ago.

He said that in three or four months time, he expected the figures to show a stagnation in sales figures, following the series of interest rate rises in Britain.

"For six to 12 months, I would expect the property market to be slow, but still fundamentally sound," he said, stressing there was no risk of negative equity problems developing.

RICS spokesman Edward Waterson, of estate agent Carter Jonas, in Micklegate, York, said then that the summer lull in inquiries seemed to have come early.