House prices 'still accelerating'

House price rises in Brighton & Hove are matching those in London

Brighton & Hove has joined Greater London as the place in England and Wales where house prices are rising fastest, says the Land Registry.

Property prices went up by 15.6% in both those areas in the year to April.

In England and Wales prices rose by 9.1% on average, faster than the property inflation rate of 8.3% recorded in March.

The average home in England and Wales now costs £179,935 - £15,003 more than a year ago.

However David Stubbs, of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, predicted the market would cool off.

"The acceleration in price growth reflects the strength of the market in previous months but does not signal further strength in the future," he said.

"Price rises will moderate as the year progresses."

Prices picking up

According to the Land Registry, prices are now rising more than twice as fast as they were a year ago.

"In April 2006, the annual price change was 4.1%, less than half the 9.1% annual price change in April 2007," it said.

The latest figures from the Land Registry lag only slightly behind other house price surveys, for instance those from mortgage lenders such as the Nationwide and the Halifax.

These have both suggested recently that house price inflation has been running in double figures.

Nottingham slowdown

The registry says overall prices are being driven by the market in London, where the cost of buying a home has been rising much faster than in England and Wales as a whole.

As a result, the average London home, at £333,785, now costs nearly £154,000 more than the average for England and Wales.

The area where prices have risen least in the past year is Nottingham.

There they have gone up by just 1%, leaving the cost of an average property at £101,810.