FIFTY people crowded into a tiny flat yesterday at what is believed to be the busiest house-viewing ever seen in Sussex.

First-time buyers and investors flocked to Brunswick Road, Hove, as the scramble to find somewhere to live hotted up.

House prices have passed the ten per cent inflation mark, the highest rate since the boom days of the mid- to late-Eighties.

Estate agent Wayne Manley couldn't move as the landing, lounge and bedroom clogged up with people eager to hand over £49,950 to live in the two-floor flat. Wayne, 32, said: "I've been in the business 12 years and I've never seen anything like it.

"It's easily the most people who have come to a block viewing.

"I'm absolutely exhausted by the whole thing. We've already had three offers for it and expect even more to come in."

Tracie McKenzie, of Dyke Road, Brighton, was looking at the flat for an investment.

She said: "I've never known anything so hectic. The housing market is very strong at the moment and there appears to be a lot of people looking for not very many places."

Interior designer Steve Beard, looking for somewhere to live, said: "It's unbelievably busy. I've been looking for a place for a couple of months and I've never known anything like it."

The flat measures 284sq ft. It is something of a rarity in Brighton and Hove at under £50,000.

Wayne, who started Manley Properties, added: "That's not very much money in today's property market these days."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.