London is experiencing “the biggest house price bubble ever”.

This was the headline in the Evening Standard after the Land Registry said house  prices in the capital were up 13.8% in a year.

The average London house has gone up in value by just over £50,000 in a year. The Standard said this compared with the average salary in London at £36,781.

The Land Registry is also reporting – for February – that average house prices in England and Wales are now £170,000 – lower than the £181,658 at the peak in 2008, but 5.3% up on a year ago.

In the north-east, February house prices were down by 1.3% annually.

Transactions, according to the Land Registry’s latest data, have improved markedly.

Between September and December, sales averaged 75,318 per month, up from 58,195 for the same period in 2012.

In December itself, there were 75,182 transactions – up 33% (56,697) on December the previous year. In London, there were 9,855 sales, up 30%  from December 2012 (7,601).

*According to Knight Frank, House prices in prime central London have risen by an astonishing 68% in the five years since the post-Lehman Brothers low point in March 2009.

Tom Bill, a residential research associate at Knight Frank, also says that £1m-£2m house sales in London account for 22% of all Stamp Duty revenue in England and Wales, but fewer than 2% of all transactions. Sales over £2m made a 15% contribution, while representing less than 1% of all transactions.

However, Bill does say that a series of tax changes has contributed to slower price growth in some of London’s markets.

He also says that international political uncertainty boosts overseas interest in London property.

In the 11 months to January, the number of Russians viewing central London property online fell by 25% compared with the same period the previous year. However, as political tension grew in February, the figure reversed, so that there was a 2% rise compared with February last year.

Meanwhile, there was a 121% increase in web traffic from Ukraine over the whole 12-month period.