* 2003 is definitely the 'Year of the North'. On an annual basis, house price gains in the North (38%), Yorkshire and the Humber (32%), and Wales (32%) have significantly outstripped those recorded in the south of England. In the south, house price gains over the last year have been: Greater London (9%), the South West (12%), the South East (12%) and East Anglia (16%).
* All of the UK's top 10 property hotspots over the last year are outside the south. Widnes has recorded the biggest rise in prices (68%), followed by Barry (59%), St Helens (55%) and Swansea (53%).
* The average price in Wales has broken the £100,000 barrier for the first time, and the Principality now has four of the top ten hotspots in the UK.
* The capital remains at the bottom of the regional annual house price growth table with annual house price inflation below 10% for the first time since Quarter 1, 2001. Prices in Greater London increased by 2.1% in the third quarter, more than reversing the 0.7% fall in the second quarter. Despite this rise, annual house price inflation in Greater London continues to slow, falling to 8.6% from 11.5% in the second quarter.
* The gap between prices in the south and the rest of the country has narrowed over the past six months, although it still remains substantial. The difference between the average UK property price (£134,100) and that in London (£223,460) has fallen by £5,600, from a record £95,000 in the first quarter of 2003 to £89,400 in the third quarter.
* The average price in the capital is now 67% above the UK average. This compares with an average of 48% over the past 20 years. In value terms, the gap in average prices between London and the UK has risen by two and a half times over the past five years, from £36,400 in 1998 Quarter 3 to £89,400.
* Contrastingly, the average property price in Scotland has widened by over four times in the last five years, from £11,400 below the UK average in 1998 Quarter 3 to £52,000 below the national average in the latest quarter.
Commenting upon the housing market in the UK Martin Ellis, Chief Economist, said: "The recent rapid rises in house prices in the north have led to a modest reduction in the north/south property divide over the last six months. More favourable housing affordability and encouraging labour market trends in the north should cause the gap to narrow further during the coming few quarters. The substantial differential in property prices between the south and other regions is, however, set to persist."
