A Financial Times House Price Index, published last week, reveals that house price growth is not as strong as other studies had suggested.

A Financial Times House Price Index, published last week, reveals that house price growth is not as strong as other studies had suggested.

The FT Index, compiled by Acadametrics, which uses Land Registry data, showed house price inflation of 0.5 per cent in March.

Meanwhile, a survey released by Halifax last week suggested that house prices had risen by 0.9 per cent in March, while Nationwide's survey claimed that in the first three months of 2006 house prices had risen by 2.3 per cent, their fastest growth since the summer of 2004.

Gary Styles, chief economist of Acadametrics, agreed that London is outperforming the average for the rest of the country stating that growth in 2006 "has started strongly led primarily by London".

Mr Styles also added: "We expect house prices to show further modest growth in the coming months as market expectations become more upbeat and other regions take their lead from the London market."