The property price boom is over and some homes in Sussex are losing value for the first time in five years, figures out today reveal.

In the quarterly figures ending June 2004, the average price of a detached house in East Sussex fell from £297,815 to £290,297 compared with the same period last year.

Homes in West Sussex have gained in value by an average of two per cent, with detached houses rising from £326,836 to £331,441.

The stabilising of prices has led to more homes being sold as buyers quickly snap up bargains.

The housing market in Brighton and Hove is still buoyant, with the prices of all types of houses rising by up to seven per cent, but the rise is half the national average.

The figures from the Land Registry's latest quarterly residential house price report is the most accurate way of assessing the state of the housing market.

They are based on actual house sales rather than speculation.

In recent years Sussex, especially Brighton and Hove, has experienced some of the highest property price rises in the whole of England and Wales but now has some of the lowest rises in the country.

Phil Graves, spokesman for Brighton and Hove Estate Agents Association said: "We always said the property price boom in Sussex and Brighton and Hove would not last.

"These figures reflect what we know is currently happening in the housing market. The property market is now finding its own level and the biggest test will come in the autumn when there is usually a pick-up in the market.

"By Christmas we could have the interest base rate at five per cent and it will be interesting to see what effect that will have."

Values rose in England and Wales by almost 17 per cent in the quarter ending June 2004, compared with 2003, with prices in Middlesbrough on Teeside up by 59 per cent.

In some parts of southern England, such as Reading, there has been no increase.

The average price of a detached house in Brighton and Hove rose from £314,242 to £336,599, semi-detached from £209,838 to £235,810, terraced from £213,791 to £232,384 and flats and maisonettes from £147,292 to £154,435.

The average price of a property in the city is now £203,157.

Despite the fall in prices in detached houses in East Sussex, there has been an increase in other areas.

Prices for semi-detached properties rose from £167,348 to £187,103, from £142,346 to £158,862 for terraced houses and from £102,262 to £123,901 for flats and maisonettes.

The average price of a house in East Sussex, £193,356, is up eight per cent on last year.

In West Sussex semi-detached houses have gained in value from £193,488 to £207,173, terraced from £160,344 to £176,893, and flats and maisonettes from £118,842 to £137,046.

These make the average price of a property in West Sussex £214,230.