House prices in Bingley have risen faster in the past 12 months than anywhere else in England, a new survey revealed today.

The average price of a property in the booming town grew 46 per cent to £191,383 in the last year, more than double the national average of 20.5 per cent.

Bingley, which is thought to have benefited from the impact of the new Relief Road which opened late last year, ranked at first place in the Halifax House Price Index survey for England. It was only beaten in the UK table by the South Wales mining town of Merthyr Tydfil, but economists have suggested the big rises are unlikely to be sustained.

There was good news for homeowners across Bradford with the average house price in the city increasing by 29 per cent to £94,124, well above both the national and Yorkshire averages.

But the picture is less rosy for those who have bought property in Cleckheaton where the recent boom in house prices appears to have come to an abrupt halt with an increase of just four per cent in the last 12 months.

The small increase there and in other boom areas such as Ilkley, where the rise was just 17 per cent, was an indication of the national slowdown in house price inflation taking effect in Yorkshire.

Meanwhile, estate agents in Bingley repeated their concerns that first-time buyers were being priced out of the market due to the big increases.

Peter Leadbeater, senior associate director at Dacre, Son and Hartley estate agents in Westgate, Baildon, said he believed although Bingley was a popular area for property buyers the statistics should be

viewed with caution.

Mr Leadbeater said: "I think that the Bingley market is certainly a very strong market while other markets are slowing a little.

"The Bingley market has continued to grow. There has been a lot of talk about the bypass and it has put Bingley on the map as a commuter area. It has almost talked itself into existence as a desirable place to live. I'm not sure though about the price rises further up the ladder. For example, if a house owner in Bingley had seen a £65,000 property rise to £95,000 that is probably fair but to say a £200,000 property owner suddenly had a £3 00,000 house is false."

Martin Ellis, chief economist at the Halifax, said the rises in Bingley were a result of price inflation in other areas with home buyers now looking at alternative towns. "Bingley fits into this pattern and has felt the impact of the rise in prices in Leeds. We see places like this go through the cycle at different times," he said.