The top 10 property hotspots over the past year are all outside southern England, says the Halifax. Crewe has experienced the biggest increase in prices (58%), followed by Carlisle (55%) and Accrington (54%).

The North West with four towns (Crewe, Accrington, Chorley and Oldham) and Scotland with three (Kirkcaldy, Airdrie and Kilmarnock) are the best represented regions in the UK top 10.

At a county level, Gwynedd in Wales (45%), and Tayside and Borders (both 43%), have seen the biggest price rises over the last year. Four of the 10 counties recording the biggest price gains in the last 12 months are in Wales (Gwynedd, West Glamorgan, Dyfed and Mid Glamorgan), three are in Scotland (Tayside, Borders and Highlands) and three are in the North (County Durham, Cleveland and Cumbria).

The smallest house price rises have been in Dorset (7%), County Down and East Sussex (both 8%), and Essex (10%). Six of the 10 counties recording the smallest increases were in southern England.

The differential between the average house price in London and the UK has fallen to its lowest for over 5 years in percentage terms. The average price in the capital stood at 1.56 times the national average in 2004 Quarter 2 compared with 1.86 times in 2001 Quarter 2. The much stronger house price rises in northern Britain during the last two years has seen a significant narrowing in the north/south house price divide with the average price in London now only twice that in the North, for example, compared with three times in 2002 Quarter 2. Nonetheless, the north/south divide remains wider than it was ten years' ago when the average price in London was only 1.24 times the national average.

Over the past year, the biggest price rises have been in northern England and Wales - North (36%), Wales (36%), North West (34%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (28%).

The average price in both West Midlands (£152,869) and East Anglia (£154,989) surpassed the £150,000 barrier for the first time during the second quarter, therefore joining Greater London, the South East and the South West above this mark.

Commenting upon the housing market in the UK Martin Ellis, Chief Economist, said:

"The areas experiencing the most buoyant housing market conditions during the past year have all been outside southern England.”

“The rapid rise in house prices over the last two or three years in northern Britain and Wales, however, means that increasing numbers of first-time buyers in these parts of the country now face similar difficulties to those in the south in getting onto the housing ladder.”

“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. We expect this trend to continue during the second half of the year, contributing to slower overall UK house price inflation."