HOME owners in Oxfordshire have seen the price of their houses rise by an average of 33.7 per cent within nine months, according to a new report.

The county is top of a league table of price changes produced by Roof magazine, published by the housing charity Shelter.

It was drawn up by Daniel Dorling, of Bristol University, who warned that buyers faced a "roller-coaster".

He used figures produced by the Halifax bank up to September, weighting them by the stock of owner-occupied homes in each county.

The average home in Oxfordshire increased 33.7 per cent since the end of 1998, compared to a 28.9 per cent increase in Greater London and 26.8 per cent in Surrey. In Northants prices fell 8.1 per cent.

In a similar exercise last year, Oxfordshire was in the middle of the table at 8.4 per cent, while prices in Gloucestershire rose 18.7 per cent.

Mr Dorling said: "The table shows two things. First, price changes this year bear very little relationship to those of a year ago.

"Second, the market has become even more volatile than a year ago.

"Three counties now report annualised price increases of over 25 per cent whereas none did before, and prices have fallen in nine counties whereas they fell in only three before. The situation is essentially unstable."

He says local changes are influenced more by expectations and speculation than by national economic factors.

He concludes "We can all be led to believe that there is a property boom under way - when in fact there is disorganised chaos."

The magazine concludes that the Government is unlikely to halt price rises until after the next General Election.

Story date: Friday 26 November

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