A NORTH-EAST seaside town has recorded one of the biggest increase in house prices in the country in 2004.

Figures from the Halifax place Saltburn, east Cleveland, fourth in the top ten of house price increases.

The average price there last year was £77,452. This year that had risen to £114,479 - a jump of 48 per cent.

The majority of towns recording the strongest price growth in 2004 began the year with relatively low prices, the Halifax said.

Bellshill in Strathclyde - where prices rose by 70 per cent - topped the table

The South of England remained the most expensive place to live in the UK - with Buckinghamshire, Surrey and Middlesex the costliest counties, while Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, is now the priciest town for house prices in the country.

The figures do show a narrowing in the North/South divide.

At the end of last year, the average property in the south cost 1.9 times as much as in the north, but this has narrowed to 1.6