A LEADING estate agent this week broadly agreed with a national report saying that Great Yarmouth had seen oneof the biggest gains in house prices in the last decade.

A LEADING estate agent this week broadly agreed with a national report saying that Great Yarmouth had seen one

of the biggest gains in house prices in the last decade.

A report published by the Halifax revealed that on average house prices had more than doubled and that seaside towns, including Yarmouth, featured prominently in the top ten, having begun the decade with lower than average property prices.

Charles Bycroft said locally the market remained fragile, with first-time buyers still struggling to climb on to the first rung of the property ladder.

“If you go from 2000 to last autumn, to say house prices doubled is probably about right. At the peak of the summer of 2007 it was two-and-a-quarter to two-and-a-half times the 2000 prices. But now prices have dropped back.

“At the moment the market is still fragile. The number of sales of small homes is low but there is still a market there.”

He added that prices in places like Martham and Belton

that were usually 10pc below those in Caister, Bradwell and Ormesby, were usually a fair indication of what was going on - coming up to match the levels of their more desirable rivals in times of boom, and dipping back in times of bust.

“As other places become more expensive people will buy what they can afford,” he said.

Generally, however, he said national statistics had little to say about what was going on locally, relying on valuations not transactions and including new house sales where developers offer incentives, clouding the issue.

“The biggest problem right now is that lenders have gone back to criteria they used 40 years ago and first-time buyers are frozen out of the market.”

Redruth in Cornwall secured the top spot in the report, having experienced a

207pc increase between 1999 and 2009.