House prices up by 10%

House prices in England and Wales rose by more than 10% last year, making the average price of a property £106,452, up from £96,867 in 1999.

All regions showed an increase in average prices, but the economic divide remains, with most expensive properties in London and the South and the cheapest in Wales and Humberside.

Cheapest areas

Blaenau Gwent (£35,359)

Kingston Upon Hull (£40,051)

Stoke-on-Trent (£40,696)

Merthyr Tydfil (£41,265)

Rhondda Cynon Taff (£45,402)

But overall sales of property were down more than 3.5%, from 245,876 in 1999 to 236,985 for the same period in 2000.

These latest figures from the Land Registry, the government agency that records ownership of land, covered the period October-December 2000.

Regional breakdown

East Anglia was the region that saw the greatest increase in house prices - of more than 17%.

Most expensive areas

Windsor and Maidenhead (£260,749)

Surrey (£211,467)

Greater London (£195,868)

Wokingham (£193,423)

Buckinghamshire (£192,519)

The average price of a property there rose from £80,696 in 1999, to £94,706 in 2000.

London and the South followed, with the South East and South West both seeing rises of 15.88%.

An average property in the commuter belt South East cost £136,907 in 2000, from £118,145 in the same period in 1999.

Properties in Greater London rose on average by nearly 13%, from £157,624 in 1999 to £177,949 for the same period in 2000.

The North and Wales saw the lowest increase in prices, up 5.31% and 5.54% respectively.

In Wales, the average price of a property cost £65,731 in 2000, from £62,279 in 1999.

Although some regions of Wales, like Gwent, saw houses sell for as little as around £35,000.