The three northern English regions were the only British regions to record house price rises in Britain in 2004 Q4 were North West (3.0%), Yorkshire and the Humber (1.2%) and the North (0.7%).

All other regions saw a fall in prices during the quarter with the biggest declines in Wales (-6.2%) and the South East (-1.6%). Prices in London fell by 0.5%: the second successive quarterly drop in the capital.

There was a clear north/south divide in 2004. The biggest annual house price rises in 2004 Quarter 4 were in the North West (27%), the North (26%), Northern Ireland (24%) and Yorkshire and the Humber (22%). The smallest annual price gains were in Greater London (4%) and the South East (7%).

Scotland is now the only region of the UK where the average price remains below £100,000 (£99,056). London remains the most expensive region with an average price of £241,670.

38 out of the total 613 (6%) towns surveyed had an average house price below £100,000 in 2004. This compared with 121 (20%) towns with an average price below £100,000 in 2003. Almost half of the towns where the average price remains below £100,000 are in Scotland (18 out of the 38).

The number of towns where the average house price is above £300,000 increased from 26 (4% of the 613 towns surveyed) in 2003 to 47 (8%) in 2004. All the towns above this benchmark are in London and the South East with the exceptions of Knutsford in Cheshire and Wimborne in Dorset.

The differential between the average house price in London and the UK has fallen to its lowest level for almost 7 years in percentage terms.

The average price in the capital stood at 1.5 times the national average in 2004 Quarter 4 compared with a peak of 1.9 times in 2001 Quarter 3. The much stronger house price rises in northern Britain during the last three years has seen a significant narrowing in the north/south house price divide with the average price in London now 1.9 times higher than that in the North compared with three times higher in 2002 Quarter 3. The north/south divide remains wider than it was ten years' ago when the average price in London was only 1.25 times the national average.

Commenting upon the housing market in the UK, Martin Ellis, Chief Economist, said: "House prices continued to rise in northern England during the final quarter of 2004. Whilst prices in this part of the country increased rapidly during 2004 as a whole, there was significant slowing in house price inflation in the second half of the year as first-time buyers increasingly faced similar difficulties to those in the south in buying a home. This trend is expected to continue in 2005."

"The continuation of rapid house price inflation in northern Britain and Wales in 2004 resulted in a sharp drop in the number of towns across the country where the average price is below £100,000. At the other end of the spectrum, there was an almost doubling in the number of towns with an average price above £300,000."