House prices in Sussex are continuing to boom, according to figures published today.

The average price of a property has topped the £100,000 mark despite a slowdown in the last quarter of 2000.

Heavy rain and floods in parts of the county put off buyers and delayed the house purchasing process before Christmas, but the county is still one of the fastest growing areas for domestic property price increases.

To purchase an average property in Sussex with a 100 per cent mortgage, a buyer or joint buyer would need to be earning £28,500 a year.

Brighton and Hove has experienced a yearly increase of 20.3 per cent in property prices, making it the 15th biggest increase in the country outside London.

Phil Graves works for the Brighton and Hove estate agents and property developers Graves Jenkins, which deals in residential and commercial property across Sussex.

He said: "The period just before Christmas always sees a slowing down in the property market and the heavy rain and flooding in parts of the county did affect the market, especially in the Uckfield and Lewes areas.

"But so far this year things have been extremely buoyant.

"There is definitely a buzz in the property market, which you always get when there are sustained low interest rates. There is also a lot of movement in the mortgage market, which creates demand for surveyors' reports."

The new city of Brighton and Hove is having a see-saw time in the property price rise stakes for detached houses, according to the figures from the Land Registry.

The average price of a detached house sold between October and December last year was £233,659, up £37,000 on the previous year.

Prices for semi-detached, terraced houses and flats in Brighton and Hove remained static compared with the previous quarter, with the average semi selling at £149,332, terraced property at £146,547 and flat and maisonettes at £85,999.

All show large rises on the previous year with prices of terraced houses up by almost £29,000.

Figures from the Land Registry are the most reliable way of assessing the property market as they are based on registered sales.

In East Sussex, the average price of a detached house sold at the end of last year was £197,229, up nearly £34,000 on the year but down by £7,000 on the previous quarter.

The average price of a semi-detached house is £108,871, terraced £89,679 and flats and maisonettes £58,375.

The abundance of cheap flats in the Hastings area has seen prices in this range rise by more than £9,000 in the year, according to the figures West Sussex detached properties have increased to £227,333, a rise of £40,000 on the year and £5,000 up on the last quarter.

The prices of semi-detached homes in West Sussex increased by £18,000 in the year to £129,382, terraced property prices were up by £16,000 to £103,684 and the cost of flats and maisonettes rose by £9,000 to £72,739. All these categories showed a fall of around £1,000 in the previous quarter.