House sellers' asking prices in London, Cambridgeshire, Berkshire and Surrey have made the strongest gains since the financial crisis struck, while those in County Durham, the Isle of Wight, West Yorkshire and Teesside have the furthest distance still to recover, according to property website, Rightmove.

With an average price tag of £1.5 million, average asking prices in central London and the City now tower 41.9% above the levels seen when the housing market was at its pre-crisis peak in May 2008.

West London has seen the next strongest price growth since the previous peak of the market, with average property asking prices now standing at £564,192, which is 41.7% higher than in May 2008.

The study, which covered England and Wales, found that at the other end of the scale, property prices in County Durham had the biggest percentage jump still left to climb to reach their levels at the previous peak of the market. The average asking price in County Durham stands at £114,554, which is 13.4% below the typical amount requested by sellers in May 2008.

The figures come from a new "house price trendometer" tool which Rightmove has created to allow people to see how asking prices in their area have fared since the website's records started in 2001.