House prices are continuing to power ahead and look set to remain strong until the end of the year.

The annual rate of property price inflation is running at about 23 per cent, more than double the long-term average of ten per cent, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

The RICS said low interest rates and a continuing shortage of properties on the market was behind the steep increases.

During the three months to the end of October, 54 per cent more chartered surveyors in England and Wales reported seeing price rises than saw falls.

There was also evidence the boom is continuing to move north, with the fastest price rises seen in the North, followed by the East Midlands and Yorkshire.

In the North, 81 per cent more chartered surveyors reported seeing price gains than those who saw falls - the highest figure since regional data was first collected in 1994.

By contrast, 14 per cent more surveyors in London said there had been increases, the slowest rate of growth since last December and well down on September's figure of 26 per cent.

RICS national housing spokesman Ian Perry said: "Despite many pundits speculating on how much longer rapid house price rises can be sustained, they show no signs of slowing down before the end of the year."

For people already on the property ladder affordability did not appear to be a problem, but the high price rises meant many first-time buyers were being forced to find increasingly big deposits to buy their homes.

The majority of surveyors expected the boom to continue, with 36 per cent more of those questioned expecting further prices rises during the next three months than those expecting falls, up from 34 per cent last month.

The RICS said concerns about a possible war in the Middle East and apprehension whether the pace of rises was sustainable meant they were expecting the market to slow down in the spring.