By Charlotte Beugge

House prices in Woking rose by 16% last year - the highest out of any of the 130 towns covered by the Halifax Town House Price Survey of the UK. Prices in the Surrey commuter town rose from £257,590 in 2010 to £299,654 in 2011.

The second-placed town for house price rises in 2011 was Falkirk, where prices rose by 12% over the year. The town, situated midway between Glasgow and Edinburgh, saw its typical house price rise from £113,422 to £126,548.

Out of the 20 towns with the strongest price rises last year, nine were in London and the south-east.

In comparison, the towns with the biggest fall in prices last year were Kettering in Northamptonshire and Dunfermline in Scotland, which both recorded declines of 15%. Prices in Kettering fell from £165,823 in 2010 to £140,258 in 2011 and in Dunfermline from £130,666 to £111,282. Nine out of ten towns with the largest price falls are outside the south.

A separate report from the Nationwide said that nationally, house prices fell by 0.2% in December, but by 1% over 2011 as a whole. It says that the average home in the UK cost £163,822 in December compared with £165,798 in November.

Nine out of 13 UK regions recorded house price rises in 2011, with London seeing the strongest growth over the year.

Northern Ireland was the worst performing region for the fourth consecutive year, with prices falling by 8.9% over the year - a typical home costs £113,614 and it is now the cheapest place in the UK to buy a home.