Prices have broken through �100,000 in every county

Surrey has the highest average price at �345,485, while County Tyrone has the lowest at �102,959.

However, 2004 saw the gap between house prices in the south of England and the rest of the UK closing slightly, Halifax said.

The top 20 counties for house price growth were all outside the south.

Southern slowdown

County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland saw the fastest rate of house price growth in 2004, followed closely by the Scottish Highlands and West Glamorgan in Wales.

All these areas saw house prices grow by more than 30% during 2004.

In total, 16 counties saw average prices breach the �100,000 barrier for the first time, including six in Scotland and five in northern Ireland.

At the other end of the scale, Hertfordshire, Cambridge and East Sussex, all traditionally high-price areas, saw single-digit price growth.

Out of 13 counties with average prices above �200,000, only one, Herefordshire, is outside the south of England.

"There was a clear tendency for those counties experiencing the strongest price gain in 2004 to be the ones where average prices were amongst the least expensive in the country," Martin Ellis, Halifax chief economist, said.

Counties where prices have risen fastest
County	Region	Avg prices 2003	Avg prices 2004	% Change
Fermanagh	N Ireland	�79,962	�111,187	39%
Highlands	Scotland	�95,399	�130,749	37%
West Glamorgan	Wales	�95,598	�128,135	34%
Gwynedd	Wales	�105,866	�140,657	33%
Cleveland	North	�96,900	�126,629	31%
County Durham	North	�95,270	�123,555	30%
Borders	Scotland	�108,011	�140,061	30%
Dumfries & Galloway	Scotland	�92,897	�117,993	27%
Cumbria	North	�113,403	�142,532	26%
Merseyside	North-West	�111,168	�139,088	25%
Source: Halifax