House prices in the West Midlands showed one of the biggest rises in the country last month as property market figures turned positive for the first time in almost a year and a half.

But prices in Birmingham did not fare as well as the wider region with the city registering a 2.6 per cent drop last month, bringing the average price down to £113,796, according to the Land Registry.

Wolverhampton on the other hand saw a rise of 0.9 per cent.

Taking the West Midlands region as a whole, the average cost of a property rose by 0.5 per cent in June, reaching £130,810 – racing ahead of the 0.1 per cent increase throughout England and Wales.

The region was lagging behind only London which saw a surge of two per cent with average property values in the capital now reaching £301,859.

The Land Registry said the June rise was the first positive monthly change since January, 2008.

The group also reported a drop in the annual rate at which house prices are falling, with this slowing to 14 per cent from 15.9 per cent during May, leaving the average property now worth £153,046.

Many areas including the north of the country and Wales continued to see falls.

House prices fell 1.2 per cent in Yorkshire and Humber, while Wales and the East Midlands slid 1.1 per cent and the North West and North East dropped 0.9 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively.

All regions have experienced a decrease in their average property value over the last year.

The North East suffered 15.9 per cent, across the year. But the biggest annual fall by area was in Luton, which dropped 23 per cent.

Buyers are beginning to return to the market, according to the Land Registry, which said the most up-to-date figures show that, during April, the number of completed house sales rose to 36,233, from 34,690 the previous month.

But despite the improvement for the third month in a row, completions were still 42 per cent lower than in April last year.

Today’s figures contradict recent data from the Halifax which suggested that house prices resumed their downward trend during June – 0.5 per cent.

But they echoed those issued by Nationwide for the month, which showed a 0.9 per cent rise – the third increase in four months.

Signs of improvement in the market have been met with warnings from economists that further price falls could still be on the horizon, due to rising unemployment and the continuing mortgage shortage.