Woking in Surrey was named the best performing town or city within the UK throughout 2011 with regard to house prices, new research carried out by Halifax has shown.

The study revealed the area witnessed the most marked rise in property costs over the last 12 months - climbing from £257,580 in 2010 to £299,654 one year later - an increase of 16% for the commuter town, which is located within travelling distance of central London by train.

Other regions to score highly included Falkirk in Scotland, as well as towns in London and the south-east of England.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax - which is a division of Bank of Scotland - stated: "Whilst house prices nationally have been largely unchanged in recent months, there have been significant differences in performance in towns across the country."

The industry figure added the locations that have fared the best tend to be ones situated close to major commercial centres.