House buyers may have been comforted by the news that the boom is over, but in Oxfordshire the average house price has still hit £218,916.

Prices in the county have increased by nearly 21.5 per cent during the past year, compared with 19.7 per cent in England and Wales.

The Land Registry said the average price of Oxfordshire homes sold during the first three months of 2003 was £218,916, compared with £180,233 during the same period the previous year.

The national average was £145,897, while prices in the South East increased 21.7 per cent to £188,792.

Sales in England and Wales fell by nearly five per cent during the quarter, with 217,262 properties changing hands, compared with 227,810 in the first part of 2002.

Martin Ellis, chief economist at Halifax, said: "This is another sign that the market is slowing.

"This goes with other signs that house price inflation is easing."

Greater London saw the slowest increase, with prices rising by just 12.1 per cent year-on-year, compared with a jump of 27.7 per cent in the East Midlands.

But despite the slowdown, Oxfordshire is one of the most expensive places to buy, with its average price exceeded only by Greater London, Surrey, Hertfordshire, West Berkshire and Buckingham- shire.

The most expensive place to buy a house remains Kensington and Chelsea, where the average home costs £645,261, followed by the City of Westminster at £424,953.

Blaenau Gwent in Wales remains the cheapest with prices averaging £38,599.

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