The price of a detached family home has risen, according to the latest government figures, bucking the national downward trend in house prices.

However, the Financial Services Authority, the City watchdog, is expected today to tighten restrictions for borrowers who need large loans.

The cost of an average detached house rose by 4.9 per cent between December 2008 and January 2009, pushing up average prices by 0.2 per cent for the month, the figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government show. The national average house price fell by 11.5 per cent in the year to January 2009.

Estate agents said the increase in detached property prices was a result of short supply, and demand from buyers with access to ready cash or plenty of equity from the sale of a former home. The data are unlikely to help buyers at the bottom end of the market, who must battle tough mortgage restrictions and high interest rates to secure their first or second purchase.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA), the City watchdog, is understood to be considering capping the amount that buyers can borrow to a maximum of three times their income, among other new lending rules.

Figures published yesterday by the FSA showed that mortgage lending nearly halved in the last three months of last year. Banks and building societies approved loans worth £45 billion, down from £87 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Meanwhile the number of repossessions soared by 68 per cent last year to 46,750, up from 27,900 in 2007. This includes repossessions forced by “second charge” consolidation loan companies. The number of homeowners in arrears jumped by a third last year to 377,000.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders has forecast that repossessions could jump to 75,000 this year, a level not seen since the early 1990s. It also said that the true scale of repossessions could be up to 20 per cent higher.

The official figures showed that the lending freeze has continued to affect the price of other types of homes. Terraced houses dropped by 2.3 per cent from December to January, flats by 1.8 per cent and bungalows by 0.9 per cent. Semi-detached houses proved marginally less unstable, with an average price fall of 0.4 per cent.

Richard Donnell, director of research at the housing data group Hometrack, said: “Everyone has had their confidence knocked, but those at the top of the market with more equity in their home can still secure finance.”

Developers are switching from one and two-bedroom apartments to three or four-bedroom homes. New-build homes in England are currently the smallest in Europe, according to Knight Frank, the estate agent.

Jon Neale, Knight Frank’s head of development research, said: “Towards the end of the boom there was a speculative mess — developers were building small flats in places where no one in their right mind would live. It was based on speculation, not demand. In some cases, buy-to-let investors would buy without even seeing the flats.”

Market experts said that more mortgage restrictions would further distort conditions, leading to even lower demand from first-time buyers. Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Homebuilders’ Federation, said: “House price booms are caused by an imbalance between supply and demand and the long-term solution to escalating prices is to ensure there are enough homes to meet demand — not to impose regulation.”