A 17.5 per cent increase in property prices has been recorded for detached houses in the district of Tonbridge and Malling, an area that includes the growing community of Kings Hill, pictured below, near West Malling.

The increase heads an overall rise for the Tonbridge and Malling area across all property types of 4.6 per cent in the last quarter and of 4.5 per cent in the last year. This illustrates the inaccuracies in local areas of general price indicators which last week showed an overall decline of 12 per cent in the market.

The figures, from the Land Registry of England and Wales and covering the period April to June 2008, show strong house price growth and reflect the anecdotal evidence on the ground from sales offices of the smaller developers, many of whose sales figures are not included in the more general figures published by many of the larger organisations in the housebuilding and finance industries.

The Land Registry figures show price rises apply across almost all types of home, with the exception of a minor decrease of 0.6 per cent in flats/maisonettes, although it is interesting to note that these have increased in price in Maidstone, Gravesham, Canterbury and Ashford over the same period, indicating Tonbridge and Malling is not just a local ‘hot-spot’ but part of a general regional trend.

Some housebuilders are actually raising prices in line with the market in this area.

For example Hillreed Homes has raised prices by about three per cent at Kings Hill in the last year and it is proving to be an excellent time for purchasers to buy homes.

Bearing in mind that around 30 per cent of property transactions are completed without mortgages, figures from the financial institutions are actually less representative of the state of the market as a whole.

However, despite the limitations of lending-based figures, even figures from the Halifax show a price rise of 6.6 per cent for the Kings Hill postcode, ME19.

Overall the Halifax numbers show falls in the market are similar to the last two months but not as big as March and May.