It is also largely those London boroughs with the most expensive property that have seen the sharpest price rises over the past five years, according to the research by the Halifax.
There are, however, pockets outside Southern England where property fetches a high price per square metre, including Altrincham, Edinburgh, Solihull, and Leamington Spa in Warwickshire.
Kensington and Chelsea is Britain's most expensive area with an average price of £10,854 per square meter and also has the highest average house price in the country at £857,225.
Eleven London boroughs have an average price in excess of £5,000 per square meter and the top 20 most expensive areas in Britain are all London boroughs and the 48 most expensive are all in London and the South East.
Altrincham is the most expensive town on a per square metre basis outside southern England with an average price of £2,227 per square meter followed by Edinburgh at £2,214, Solihull at £2,189 and Leamington Spa in the West Midlands at £2,144.
Stanley in County Durham in the North has the lowest average price at £818 per square meter in towns. It means that the average price per square metre in Kensington and Chelsea is more than thirteen times that in Stanley.
All 10 of the towns with the lowest prices per square metre are outside the south of England and five of them are in Scotland, including Wishaw at £925, Lanark at £957, Greenock at £976, Airdrie at £982 and Kilmarnock at £986.
The 10 areas recording the highest house price growth on a per square metre basis over the last five years are all London boroughs. Lambeth at 61% recorded the biggest increase over the five year period. The country's most expensive area, Kensington and Chelsea, has also recorded the second biggest price rise at 56% and eight of the most expensive areas also feature amongst the 10 areas recording the highest house price increases since 2009.
Nationally, house prices per square metre have risen by 13% since 2009. Greater London has experienced significantly faster growth at 34% than elsewhere with the South East at 13% recording the next biggest increase. In contrast, the North has seen a fall of 3% and Scotland a decline of 5% since 2009.
By way of comparison, between May 2009 and May 2014 the FTSE All Share Total Return Index increased by 99%, and the price of gold increased by 45%.
At a regional level Wales had the largest homes sold in the last 12 months at 116 square meter followed by East Anglia at 115 square meters and the North at 114 square meters. London at 92 square meters had the smallest, at just over three quarters the average in Wales.
‘House price per square metre is a useful measure for house price comparison because it helps to adjust for differences in the size and type of properties between locations,’ said Craig McKinlay, mortgages director at the Halifax.
‘While there are areas in central London that are more expensive than anywhere else in the country, there are notable pockets outside the South East where property also has a high price per square metre. Many of those areas experiencing the strongest increases over the past few years are those with the highest price per square metre,’ he explained.
