Average house prices shot up by 10.2% year-on-year in July, marking the strongest annual upswing seen since 2007, Halifax has reported.
The increase pushed average property values to £186,322, with a 1.4% uplift also recorded month-on-month, reversing a 0.4% monthly dip in June.
The annual increase in house prices is the strongest seen since a 10.7% rise was recorded in September 2007 and the latest figures also mark the first time since then that year-on-year house price growth has hit double digits.
Halifax said that month-on-month price changes can often be volatile and quarterly movements in prices tend to give a better indication of the underlying trend in the market.
On a quarterly basis, house prices in the three months to July were 3.6% higher than in the three months to April, representing the biggest quarterly uplift since December 2006.
Stephen Noakes, mortgages director at Halifax, said: "While supply remains low, housing demand continues to be supported by a continuing economic recovery, growth in employment, improving consumer confidence and low mortgage rates."