Brighton has emerged as the area of the country that has experienced the most rapid house price inflation per square metre over the last decade, mortgage holders may be surprised to learn.
In a study of 62 cities across the UK from Halifax Estate Agents, the price index was calculated by using the average property value from the Halifax house price index divided by the average size of the home.
And with prices increasing from £673 per square metre in 1996 to £2,310 in 2006, it means that Brighton has encountered ten-year price inflation of 280 per cent - faster than anywhere else in the UK.
Mortgage holders in the city may also be reassured to hear that the housing situation continues to show double-digit growth - between 2005 and 2006 the average property price increased by 11 per cent.
Martin Ellis, chief economist at banking institution Halifax, also highlighted the issue of house prices in the capital.
" London is the most expensive city in the UK, with an average price of £3,883 per square metre, although ten years ago the capital was ranked second behind St Albans," he said.
Recently, mortgage holders learnt that 55 per cent of all wealth in the UK is now tied up
in property.
According to figures from financial services provider Prudential, the comparable figure was 42 per cent a decade earlier.





