More than half the chartered surveyors in the north west – 55 per cent – saw an increase in December, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).

In all other regions apart from the south east, fewer chartered surveyors saw rises. Over the next 12 months, prices in the north west are predicted to increase further.

No up-to-date sale prices are available from Rics but property website Rightmove has reported that house prices in the north west have already risen by £1,337 so far this month to an average £177,194.

Local estate agents say that the average house price in the Carlisle area is £185,000.

Shortage of stock is affecting buyers, with strong demand for fewer homes.

Graeme MacLeod, managing director of Cumberland Estate Agents, said: “December data isn’t terribly reliable in the estate agency world as the traditional slow-down in activity can produce wildly different results and forecasts. However, at the Cumberland we continue to see an overall upward trend on property prices and see no reason why this won’t continue in 2017.

“The southern house price data is skewed by the London effect and economic factors influencing much of that market owe as much to fluctuations in the Asian, middle east and Russian economies as it does to fears over Brexit and UK interest rates.

“Regionally the supply of new instructions remains low so sellers can command good prices. And in the lettings sector supply is even more restricted so we expect to see even greater gains in rental values.”

David Hogarth, a director at Cumbrian Properties, said: “We have already seen an upturn in demand in what is historically a quiet time of the year.

“There is a shortage of new properties and a high demand for three and four-bed houses in Carlisle. This is inflated following last year’s floods as there is nothing new to the market in the Warwick Road area and some flood victims are looking for alternative properties in other areas of the town.

“Consequently the houses we do have are achieving very close to the asking price.

“We have seen several years of little price increase but this year anticipate prices starting to rise slowly. However, pitching the asking price correctly is still very important.”

In the north west lettings market, Rics reports that tenant demand increased marginally, with 41 per cent of agents seeing a rise in inquiries.

This growing demand, which is consistently outpacing supply, is causing rents to increase and 51 per cent of respondents in the north west expect rents to rise further over the coming three months.

This trend is expected to continue with respondents projecting rental growth to average close to 5 per cent a year over the next five years.