The number of million-pound homes sold in Sussex doubled last year, latest figures have revealed.

In 2006, 129 homes in the county were sold for more than £1million - up from just 65 the previous year.

The richest property hotspot is the local authority area of Chichester, where 39 homes fetched six-figure sums last year.

Runner up was Wealden, with 22 houses swelling Millionaire's Row.

Horsham and Mid-Sussex each notched up 18 sales of million-pound homes while Brighton and Hove (with ten sales), Rother (nine) and Lewes (six) lagged behind.

Further down the list, with just a handful of six-figure sales, were Arun (four), Worthing (two) and Eastbourne (one).

At the bottom of the heap, with not a single home going for more than a million in 2006, were Adur, Crawley and Hastings.

Last year's sales brought the total number of million-pound home deals in Sussex to 463 since 2001.

The official figures from the Land Registry will be seen as a further sign of the growing divide between housing haves and have-nots as rocketing prices push properties beyond the reach of would-be first-time buyers.

While workers on average incomes are finding it increasingly difficult to get on the property ladder, those already with a foot on the door appear to be laughing all the way to the bank.

Last year a Halifax report reported the number of properties in the UK worth a million pounds or more is 20 times higher than it was ten years ago.

There are now 66,600 homes worth more than a million in the UK, up from just 3,400 in the mid-Nineties.

Just 50 local authorities saw a million pound domestic property deal done in 1995 compared with 238 last year, 60 per cent of local areas of the country.

The figures followed the long-awaited Lyons report into council tax, published earlier last month MARCH.

Sir Michael Lyons recommended the creation of two extra council tax bands - one at each end of the house price spectrum.

The revaluation of all properties that could potentially accompany the change has sparked nervousness in the South East, where booming house prices mean many would face higher bills.

The Government has said it has "no plans" to change the current banding structure of council tax.

Local Government Minister Phil Woolas, responding to the report, said: "The present system will remain for the foreseeable future an acceptable basis for local authorities to raise locally a proportion of their resources."

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