HOUSE prices in Oxfordshire rose by 1.6 per cent in 2009, according to figures from the Government’s Land Registry.

The average price of a property in the county in December was £228,317 — £3,624 more than in December 2008 and a 0.4 per cent rise.

It is the first time there has been an annual rise in the figures since June 2008, when the average was £244,480.

December was the seventh month in a row that prices have gone up in the county, reflecting a recovery in the market through the course of last year.

Last March, prices had dropped by 14.2 per cent year on year and by May had reached a low point of £214,551, meaning values have risen by about £2,000 a month since then.

Property experts say prices are rising even more rapidly in so-called “hotspots” such as north Oxford.

Chris Dixey, sales manager of the Summertown office of estate agents Breckon and Breckon, said: “In the OX2 postcode area, prices have returned to 2007 levels when the market was at its peak.

“We are experiencing a real shortage of supply, so when a property comes on the maket, there is a situation where there are competing bids and people are going completely crazy. We have just agreed a deal which was 15 per cent over the guide price in central north Oxford.

“What happened was that there was a blip in transactions in 2008 and then people have come back to the market expecting prices to be the same as 2007.”

Mark Charter, head of the Oxford office of Carter Jonas, said news of the annual rise in prices was no surprise, although he sounded a note of caution for property prices in 2010.

He added: “We are predicting an annual increase of up to one per cent over the whole of the year. There will be further price increases in the next six months, but there is some uncertainty over the impact of the General Election and possible interest rate rises later in the year.”

Natonally, the Land Registry figures showed prices rose by only 0.1 per cent during December, the smallest monthly increase since May last year.

But the average national figure of £161,783 was 2.5 per cent up over the course of the year.

Successful sellers Joanna and Robert Huie first put their three-bed house in Rowland Close, Wolvercote, on the market last November but it wasn’t until January that interest really took off. It went on the market at £369,950 and eventually sold for £365,000.

Jewellery designer Mrs Huie, 35, said: “We had about 20 viewings and a lot of interest generally. We accepted the first offer that was made as the people were not involved in a chain and seemed very interested in becoming part of the community in Wolvercote.”