WORCESTERSHIRE is experiencing a "mini-boom" in house prices with Malvern proving to be a hot spot.

Swathes of central England are seeing the boom in house price growth, which is rising at more than double the national average rate and bucking the national trend, according to an index.

Worcestershire has experienced a year-on-year growth of around 7 per cent (August last year to August this year), showing strong growth in the market. Northamptonshire, Derbyshire and Norfolk were identified by property website Rightmove as the "hottest markets", with asking prices in these counties surging annually by 9.1 per cent, 7.9 per cent and 7.4 per cent respectively.

This is more than double the 3.1 per cent annual increase in asking prices seen across England and Wales as a whole.

The data is supported by Land Registry figures which are often viewed by estate agents as the most reliable gauge of the housing market because they are based on actual transactions.

These figures show Malvern has seen the biggest rise in average house prices from £239,523 (June 2016) to £260,451 (June 2017), an increase of 8.9 per cent.

Wychavon which includes Droitwich, Evesham and Pershore also had a strong showing with the average house prices rising by 7.4 per cent from £245,9884 to £264,064.

In Worcester over the same period average house prices increased by 5.5 per cent from £189,775 to £200,289.

In Worcestershire the overall increase is 6.9 per cent from £212,320 to £226,897.

Colin Townsend, branch manager at John Goodwin in Malvern said prices had been increasing all year, particularly in the lower end and middle end of the market (properties under £500,000) with several people sometimes bidding for the same property.

He said: "It is evidence enough that there is some real momentum but I don't think it's going to continue indefinitely. There are some signs of slowing."

Duncan Saunders, officer manager at the Worcester branch of Andrew Grant Estate Agents, said sales at their Worcester office had increased by 38 per cent when comparing the period January to July 2016 to the same period this year.

He said: "In the last three months between May and July we have been achieving 99.4 per cent of our asking price. For the same period last year it was 96.8 per cent. The market seems to be thriving."

Miles Shipside, director of Rightmove, said: "High demand and limited supply are still driving momentum, especially in the counties in the middle of the

country."