The impetus behind continuing UK house price growth is shifting towards cities like Liverpool, Sheffield and Glasgow, which bottomed out only two years ago, away from the cities that started to recover in 2009 but have since slowed.

Hometrack said this morning that over the last six years, London and Oxford have experienced house price growth of 55.2% and 42.1% respectively since the trough.

However, it said affordability pressures will limit growth in the medium term with both cities registering over 12 times the price to earnings ratios, almost twice the UK average of 6.3 times.

By contrast, in cities that only started their recovery two years ago such as Edinburgh (10.7%), Leeds (10.1%), Newcastle (8%) and Glasgow (6.3%), house prices are averaging between three and six times the average earnings.

There are 14 UK cities in total that have been recording house price growth since 2009, but the length of the recovery does not provide a guide to the level of house price growth.

While London has seen the average house value increase by 55% or £144,000, the rebounds in house prices in Manchester and Birmingham have been just over 10% or £12,500 over the same period.

The six cities that have been recovering for the last two to three years have recorded an average increase of just 9% or £11,000 led by Belfast and Edinburgh. The weakest growth has been seen in Glasgow with average prices up 6.3% or £6,300 since July 2012.

Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said: “A focus on average UK house price movements masks critical trends at a city and sub-regional level.

“This is important for both businesses operating in the housing market and policy makers trying to address the challenges of growing housing supply.”

He said that this year there would be “continued recovery in lower-value markets”.