It means that Brighton and Hove ranked 52nd out of 64 local authorities in the south east for annual growth, with the average price in Brighton and Hove rising £8,600 over the past year.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Sevenoaks where property prices went up on average by 10.8 per cent.

At the other end of the scale, properties in Eastbourne lost 3.3 per cent of their value.

Meanwhile, across Britain, average house prices soared by 5.4 per cent in the year to February – the largest increase in more than two years.

House price growth has been accelerating since last summer while activity has picked up as buyers rushed to beat stamp duty increases.

Experts said there was a rush among home buyers to complete their purchases before stamp duty exemptions in England and Northern Ireland becoming less generous.

From the start of this month, first-time buyers started paying stamp duty on properties costing more than £300,000. They were previously exempt from paying the tax on properties up to £425,000.

Jason Tebb, president of property search portal OnTheMarket, said: “Affordability remains a challenge but, with a number of lenders reducing their mortgage pricing over the past few weeks, this may continue to ease if swap rates decline and other lenders follow suit.

“Cheaper mortgage rates would certainly help boost activity and transactions which are of benefit not just to the housing market but wider economy.”

Lenders use swap rates to set mortgage interest rates and these have fallen since American president Donald Trump’s tariffs announcement earlier this month, amid expectations that interest rates will be cut further in the coming months.