House prices have risen above their 2007 peak across all cities in England for the first-time since the financial crisis, data from Zoopla reveals.

The property portal says that while it took less than three years for homes in London to regain their previous highs, it has taken up to 12 years for other cities to recover.

Its latest index shows that the average annual growth across all the UK cities it monitors reached a 33-month high of 3.9 per cent in January 2020.

Central London was the quickest to rebound after the crisis, as foreign investors flocked to the market following a fall in sterling.

Other southern cities like Oxford and Cambridge followed suit, both returning to pre-crisis levels in less than four years.

But Newcastle was the slowest city to recover, only regaining previous values in December 2019, more than 12 years after the credit crunch.

The average price there is now £129,700 – an increase of 2.2 per cent year on year.

In contrast to their post-credit crunch recovery, northern cities are now showing the fastest growth and it is southern England that is lagging behind.

Edinburgh saw the largest increase over the past year, with prices up by 5.9 per cent to £241,900.

Prices in Nottingham rose by 5.3 per cent to £160,000 and in Leicester they increased by the same percentage to £182,600.

However, in Aberdeen prices dropped by 4.3 per cent year on year to £153,100. 

In Oxford prices rose by just 0.3 per cent to £416,600 and in Cambridge they were up by 1.9 per cent to £415,200.

In London prices increased by 2.3 per cent over the year to £482,000.

Looking ahead, Zoopla says that demand for homes is continuing to outstrip active sales listings, putting further upward pressure on prices.

The number of homes on the market increased by just 2.6 per cent in January 2020, compared to January 2019. 

But demand from potential buyers has soared by 26 per cent during the same period. 

Despite the upsurge in supply at a national level, the stock of homes for sale has actually fallen in nine cities in the index, dropping by as much as 6 per cent on a year ago.

Zoopla head of insight and research Richard Donnell says: “An imbalance between supply and demand is supporting the current rate of house price growth – a trend we expect to remain in place in the first half of 2020.

“Strong demand and attractive affordability are sustaining above average price growth in Nottingham despite an increase in supply. 

“The same will apply to other cities including Liverpool and Manchester.

“The growth in supply in Oxford and Cambridge is more likely a result of sellers, who were sitting on their hands waiting for market conditions to improve, before eventually deciding to make their move, encouraged by improving housing market sentiment.”