New data from the Halifax - the UK's biggest mortgage provider - reveals a fascinating breakdown of how the UK property market has grown in the last ten years.

The study of prices per square metre in the UK reveals that the cost of property, measured as the cost per square metre, has tripled since 1996 in 15 of the cities examined and in all of the 62 cities included in the survey, prices has at least doubled.

One of the key findings, however, was that house prices in the smaller cities showed the greatest growth.

And the city with the fastest growth in the UK? It might surprise to find that it was Truro in Cornwall, where the average price of a house shot up by 262%. In 1996 it was £518 per square metre; ten years later it is £1,876.

The most sluggish growth was in Aberdeen, see tables below.