THE most expensive town outside of the South of England to buy property is Knutsford in Cheshire, according to research published last night.

The average house price is currently £320,593, which ranks as the 32nd most expensive.

Bootle is one of the least expensive places to buy property in the country.

The Merseyside area is the 14th cheapest out of 613 places in the UK with an average house price of £89,147.

This is up 39% from £63,919 last year.

Halifax Estate Agents' annual survey found that Bellshill in Strathclyde recorded the biggest increase in house prices across the UK in 2004 - a rise of 70%% for the average house in the Scottish town.

Of the 20 towns recording the biggest house price increases, 13 are located in Western Britain, with seven in Wales, five in the North West and one in Western Scotland.

Earlier this year, the Halifax price index said that Bootle had the third highest rise in property prices - going up 44% in a year.

For the second year running, the Halifax Estate Agents research also found the 20 towns recording the biggest house price increases were all located outside the south of England.

In fact, the highest increase recorded by a Southern town was by Hastings (East Sussex), which saw an annual increase of 38% ranking it 24th in the league table.

The continued strength of the housing market in regions outside the South East has meant that the gap between prices in the North and South has narrowed over the past 12 months. At the end of 2003, the average property in the South cost 1.9 times as much as in the North (average price in the South was £198,821 compared to £106,789 in the North.)

The average property in the South is now around 1.6 times more expensive than in the North (average price in South is now £213,617 compared to £130,867 in the North.)

The most expensive town in the UK is Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire where the average house now costs £627,660

There has been little change in the order of the most expensive towns over the past 12 months. However, Henley on Thames, previously the most expensive town, ranks as the fourth most expensive this year.