[Roy]

So Accringtons house prices have risen 54% in the last year? How on earth are people supposed to get on the property ladder when the average price of a house is 103,000???

Northern house prices surge ahead
Crewe saw the biggest jump in prices
The top ten property hotspots during the past year were all in the north and west of the UK, according to research from the Halifax.

Crewe in Cheshire, famous for its train station, saw the biggest price gains during the year to the end of June, with the cost of a home soaring by 58%.

Carlisle and Accrington followed hot on the heels of Crewe, seeing price rises of 55% and 54% respectively.

But the bank said there were signs that price growth in the north is slowing.

North-south gap

Four of the top 10 towns which saw the highest increases were in the North West, while three were in Scotland.

The county which recorded the strongest house price growth was Gwynedd in Wales.

Prices in Gwynedd rose 45%, followed by the Tayside and Borders regions in Scotland, both with 43%.

At the other end of the scale, house prices in Dorset rose by 7%, while in Essex the cost of property increased by 10%.

However, Halifax warned that first-time buyers were increasingly being priced out of the market and this was starting to have a negative impact on house price growth in the north and west.

"There are now signs that this, together with the recent rises in interest rates, is causing house price inflation in the north to slow, with prices rising by less in the second quarter of 2004 than in the first quarter in northern England and Wales," Martin Ellis, Halifax chief economist, said.

Top 10 UK Hotspots
Location County 2003 average price 2004 average price % change
Crewe Cheshire £124,540 £196,970 58%
Carlisle Cumbria £95,531 £148,468 55%
Accrington Lancashire £67,002 £103,340 54%
Kirkcaldy Fife £74,300 £113,444 53%
Chorley Lancashire £117,406 £176,509 50%
Airdrie Strathclyde £61,198 £91,429 49%
Darlington County Durham £100,586 £148,793 48%
Oldham Lancashire £76,938 £111,768 45%
Mansfield Nottinghamshire £92,047 £133,043 45%
Kilmarnock Strathclyde £69,841 £100,895 44%
Source: Halifax (Prices as of end of June)