According to the Halifax bank, average house prices have risen in just two local authorities, Rochford in Essex and South Lakeland in Cumbria, since the peak of the boom.

Halifax said that the rises were “marginal” in these both these areas with a 1% rise in Rochford and 0.1% rise in South Lakeland.

The nine worst performing areas were all in Northern Ireland. In Craigavon prices more than halved from an average of £213,844 in 2007 to £103,383 in 2011.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at Halifax, said: “A striking feature of our analysis of the areas that have fared best and worst in the past four years is a distinct north-south divide.

“Those areas that have weathered the storm best are nearly all in the south whereas those areas worst affected are all outside southern England. Northern Ireland has done particularly badly as much of the sharp gains in the years prior to 2007 have since been reversed.”

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Earlier this month, Halifax reported that house prices saw a month-on-month rise of 0.6% in January 2012, but were down 1.8% annually. It said the average price of a house in January was £160,907.