SOARING house prices in Hove have increased more than six-fold in the past two decades – the biggest increase outside of the capital.

Average property prices in the BN3 postcode have risen 550 per cent since 1997 putting Hove in the top ten in the country and the only area outside of London to see such a rise.

Property prices per square foot have dramatically risen from below £700 in 1997 to the current level of £4,000.

The rise coincides with the formation of one council bringing together Brighton and Hove and gaining city status at the turn of the Millennium.

Cllr Robert Nemeth said the figures showed the high desirability of the area but warned first-time buyers and low-wage workers were paying the price for a failure to build homes at a rate that matched population growth.

The study is the latest to confirm Hove’s reputation as a house price hotspot.

In April, Hove was crowned the most popular place to live for young professionals for a third year.

The study by Lloyds Bank showed BN3 had the most home sales for young professionals aged between 25 and 44 years-old in England and Wales.

At the start of the year, Hove was also named among the country’s “best-performing suburbs” outside of London for a nine per cent price growth in 2016.

Price rises seem to show no sign of abating but growing even faster.

A study earlier this month by Zoopla said Hove had the second highest rising prices in the country behind Belper in Derbyshire.

The online firm said Hove house prices reached an average of £462,947 this summer, more then seven per cent higher than in January.

Also this year the area was named one of the least affordable areas in the country with house prices almost 13 times average wages - house prices of £349,000 out of the reach of many earning just £28,000.

Rightmove said most property sales in Hove in 2016 involved flats which sold for on average £321,288 with semi-detached properties selling for an average price of £563,357 and terraced properties £502,795.

Cllr Nemeth, Brighton and Hove City Council ward member for Wish ward in Hove, said: “Sustained increases are a clear indication of the desirability of Hove, which is obviously a good thing. However, high prices in themselves are entirely unhelpful.

“It was never going to be possible to build as quickly as the population increased since 1997 under Tony Blair. First-time buyers and the less well-off are now paying the price.”

David Gibson, from the Living Rent Campaign, said: “Developers make more money if there is a housing shortage when house prices are high. We can’t rely on private developers to provide housing.

“In the 1960s the UK built 200,000 new council houses alongside private house building and prices were affordable for home buyers at around three or four times incomes.

“We should spend public money building 100,000 new council low rent homes a year and gradually shift away from paying landlords rent large rent benefit payments for high rents.”