The North South gap has become a gulf. London remains the only region where house prices are rising in England and Wales annually, according to the Land Registry.

The July House Price Index from the Land Registry saw house values in London increase 1.9 per cent monthly and 1.3 per cent year-on-year, with the average property fetching £346,416.

In the North East the average property price is less than a third of a London home at £101,143, with an 8.8 per cent drop since July 2010.

And a gloomy outlook for those aspiring to home ownership has been laid out by the he National Housing Federation.

It predicts home ownership in England will slump to just 63.8 per cent over the next decade, the lowest level since the mid-1980s. Huge deposits, combined with still relatively high house prices and strict lending criteria will cause this, according to the report.

RICS member estate agents have reported average sales falling to their lowest level for two years.

RICS said that its estate agent members managed to sell just 14.2 properties on average over the past three months. The long-run average for sales per agent is 26.3.

House prices are now up 4.7 per cent since the start of the year, after inching 0.2 per cent higher in July, but property transactions have slipped to their lowest level in two years, says Nationwide.

The building society said that the average house price rose to £168,731 in the month - up more than £7,000 on January's figure of £161,211.

But just 204,000 property transactions were recorded in the three months to June, says Nationwide, according to HMRC figures.

Read more on the apparent "stand off between buyers and sellers" and overall property market forecast at http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-1671748/Property-prices-What-expect--news-predictions.html