HOUSE prices across Brighton and Hove have risen by more than £14,000 over the past year, new figures revealed today.

The increase, which is one of the highest in Britain, is being put down to the area's

reputation as one of the best places in the country to live.

More than 300 more homes have been sold this year compared to the same period in 1998.

Estate agents say Brighton and Hove are now so popular there are simply not enough properties to go round.

Figures released by HM Land Registry for the third quarter of 1999 show prices have risen by £270 a week.

In Brighton and Hove the average cost of a home has increased from £82,000 to £96,000 in the last 12 months - a 16.6 per cent rise.

Only Greater London, Bristol, and parts of Berkshire have seen bigger increases.

Estate agent Glen Mishon, of Hove's Mishon MacKay, said: "The

bottom line is that Brighton and Hove is a great place to live.

"We have a lot of London people coming down, the economy is really quite good, and all this is reflected in house prices.

"Normally this time of year things begin to ease off but so far we are still madly busy."

Sean Avard, of Wyatt and Son, in Brighton, said: "We have had a fantastic year.

"Our sales are up 31 per cent. There are simply not enough properties to go round. If we had double the listings I'm sure we would have had double the sales.

"Brighton and Hove has always been popular but it's really been put on the map this year.

"We have featured in two television soaps, the economy is booming, and if we get a new high-speed rail link to London I think prices could go even higher."

It is a similar picture for the rest of Sussex where the average cost of a home has increased by £6,000 in the last year to £97,800 in East Sussex and by £9,500 to almost £113,000 in West Sussex.

Figures released this week by the Land Registry also show there was a boom in sales throughout Sussex between July and September of this year, compared to the same period in 1998.

In West Sussex the summer boom saw 600 extra homes sold compared to last year, taking total house sales to over 5,400. This compares to spring figures which showed house sales had dropped by about 88.

In Brighton and Hove more than 2,100 homes were sold - 300 more than last year - while for the rest of East Sussex there were 3,865 sales for the same three-month period, an increase of 550.

Glen Mishon predicted house prices would begin to stabilise and come down in around six months' time but he did not foresee the kind of crash which occurred in the early Nineties.

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