Hartlepool saw the biggest jump in prices

The average price of a house in London is now just over twice that of its equivalent in the North.

Halifax added the South had completely dropped out of the top 10 league of property hotspots with North East England grabbing four slots.

The Halifax figures compare prices for the first three months of 2004 with those for the same period last year.

According to the UK's biggest mortgage lender, North East England dominated the table with Hartlepool, Darlington, Stockton-on-Tees and South Shields all in the top 10.

TOP 10 UK PROPERTY HOTSPOTS* Hartlepool, Cleveland - 59% Darlington, Co Durham - 58% Swansea, South Wales - 55% Blackburn, Lancs - 51% Newark, Notts - 48% Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland - 44% Pontefract, W Yorks - 43% Rotherham, S Yorks - 41% Chesterfield, Derbys - 40% South Shields, Tyne and Wear - 40% Source: Halifax *Price increases Jan-Mar 2004, compared to Jan-Mar 2003

Hartlepool in Cleveland saw the biggest jump in prices - rising 59% in the last year.

The average price of a home in the area is now �109,068, up from �68,669 last year.

Darlington in County Durham was close behind with a 58% increase.

Meanwhile, Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, and South Shields in Tyne and Wear saw prices leap up 44% and 40% respectively in the past 12 months.

Meanwhile the South saw a significant slowdown in house price inflation with London slipping from 19% to 9%, and the South East sinking from 26% to 7%.

East Anglia, the South West, and East and West Midlands also saw falls in the rate of house price growth.

'Slowdown ahead'

Rising prices in the North helped Yorkshire and the Humber to become the last English region to push the average price of a property over the �100,000 barrier, with homes now costing an average of �106,421.

Scotland and Northern Ireland have yet to reach this threshold with average prices still at �85,212 and �93,692 respectively.

But despite the North seeing the biggest increases in the past 12 months, Halifax chief economist Martin Ellis predicted many areas outside of the South are set to see a slowdown in price growth.

Mr Ellis said: "The top 10 property hotspots are all outside the South, with towns in the North East featuring heavily amongst them.

"We expect the gap between the North and South to narrow further during the remainder of 2004, although house price inflation in many areas outside the South is likely to slow.