IT costs £57,000 more to buy a house in the North York Moors national park than the rest of Britain, a new survey reveals.

The park's planning committee was told that it costs an average £244,429 to buy a detached home in the park, compared to £187,835 elsewhere.

The average cost in the rest of North Yorkshire is £168,632.

The cost of a semi-detached or terraced home in the park, however, is more competitively priced, said Tom Gill, of the park's planning and research department in a report to the committee.

Anyone wanting to buy a terraced house could expect to pay just over £66,000, compared to £91,020 in the rest of the UK, £77,239 in North Yorkshire and £48,786 in the Yorkshire and Humber area.

A semi-detached house will cost £102,857, some £4,000 less than the national average.

Mr Gill said the survey, carried out last June among 69 estate agents, compared a ten-year change. The study figures reveal that the price of an average property in 1991 was £108,060, compared with £160,465 last year - a rise of 49pc.

In Thirsk, property prices rose by 52 per cent and by 45 per cent in Northallerton.

House prices in the national park have gone up 47 per cent in the last three years, he said.

"As well as the increasing price of buying a home, there has been a significant reduction in the number of properties on the market," said Mr Gill.

"And those properties left will command high prices."

Labelling a property as being in the national park is a key selling point, said Mr Gill.