Bradford estate agents today blew up a storm over claims that grey skies and downpours had dampened the city's house prices.

Their thunderous attack followed a new study claiming Britain's wettest, most sun-deprived areas recorded the lowest property price increases.

The research, by the Halifax Estate Agents, said the values in traditionally overcast cities such as Bradford had been held back while owners in sun-kissed London and the South East had seen them climb through the roof.

In Bradford, property values have risen by less than 20 per cent over a decade which has typically seen 873mm of rainfall and 1223 hours of sunshine each year.

This compares with Greenwich in London - with its paltry 585mm of rain and glorious 1413 hours of sunshine - which has enjoyed a 147.7 per cent price hike.

But many of the city's estate agents immediately poured cold water on the report, arguing that linking price with weather is simply a load of hot air.

Charles Reid, a partner at Charles Reid Estate Agents, said: "Property prices are totally unrelated to weather conditions unless we are taking about places like Spain and France.

"Certainly in the UK you can't say that house prices are linked to the weather.

"For example, the reason that properties in the south are so expensive doesn't have anything to do with the slightly warmer weather. There are different commercial reasons."

He added: "And a place like Edinburgh, which has less dry weather than Bradford, will generally have more expensive property than Bradford."

He said that Bradford's weather might not be top notch but the "dark, satanic mills" of the textile era had contributed to its wealth.

"We are very work conscious and that, not the weather, has led to the success of the city."

He added that Ilkley and Baildon were very strong areas on the property market.

"The sunshine there is the same as in Bradford," he added.

His views were backed by Neil Talboys, senior forecaster at the PA Weather Centre, who said the survey was a bit of fun.

"By trying to link house prices to the weather they are missing too many other factors.

"In this country the north and west are wetter than the south and east and more people live in the south and east. If you look at the valleys of Wales they are going to be wetter and house prices will be lower. Of course everyone loves sunshine. I lived in Aberdeen and the weather was depressing."

Mark Hemingway, head of media relations at Halifax Estate Agents, said: "We all know that house prices are affected by a whole number of things - certainly not just the weather.

"It has been interesting, however, to isolate just two of the factors which could influence people's choices of where to live when they are thinking of buying a house. It is well known that Britons love to talk about the weather and house prices - perhaps this will give people even more of an opportunity to link the two things together."

According to the report, Liverpool had had a 34 per cent increase in the past ten years with 1,725 hours of sunshine and Edinburgh has had 1,361 hours of sunshine but a whopping 73per cent increase in property value.

Andrew Hodgson, of Dacre, Son and Hartley, said the sun played an important part in determining the price of properties.

"There can be up to a ten per cent difference in the price of a rural property, or a property with a big garden as a selling point, between summer and winter. Certainly if a house is viewed in the summer there will be a different effect if that same house is viewed on a wet afternoon in November.

"In Bradford the market is buoyant come winter or summer and the weather is not the depressing thing, there are other factors."

Chief executive of the National Association of Estate Agents Hugh Dunsmore-Hardy said the survey seemed to be tongue-in-cheek. "We believe that the increase in property prices and market activity are far more connected with supply and demand and local economy rather than the weather. "