House price inflation in London has reached its lowest level for five years, while other big southern cities in the UK have seen growth slip from double to single digits.

The latest Hometrack UK Cities House Price Index revealed growth in London has dropped to 3.5%, a slowdown from the 13% registered in April 2016, giving an average value of £489,400.

Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford, previously top performers, have also seen price inflation slip into single figures, while in contrast the Midlands and northern England are topping the charts.

For example, house price inflation in Bristol was recorded at 12.9% this time last year, but last month grew 5.9% to £265,700, according to the index.

In comparison, Manchester recorded price growth of 8.4% during April where average prices were £155,000, followed by growth of 7.7% in both Leicester and Birmingham where values are at £164,600 and £152,100 respectively.

Across the top 20 UK cities, price growth has slowed in the past 12 months from 8.7% to 5.3%, with average prices at £247,400.

Richard Donnell, insight director at Hometrack, said: “Looking ahead we expect current trends to continue with house price growth losing momentum in cities across southern England.

“This is due to record high housing affordability and subsequently a large numbers of households being priced out of the market.

“Outside southern England, we anticipate prices will continue to increase over 2017 as households take advantage of record low mortgage rates and an improving economic outlook.

“On paper there still remains material upside for prices in the midlands, northern England and Scotland, but much depends on how market sentiment is impacted by factors such as the General Election, Brexit negotiations and rising inflation which will create a decline in real wage growth.”