HOUSE prices in Cornwall have continued to rise throughout 2003 at a much faster rate than elsewhere in the UK and some of the county's property hotspots are now more expensive to live in than parts of London.

Figures from the Land Registry - the government agency that records details of all property transactions - show that the average price of a home in Cornwall is now £167,032, 21% up on 2002. Average prices across the whole of England and Wales have risen by only 11% year-on-year. Since 1999, house prices in Cornwall have gone up by 112% compared to a UK average increase of 64%.

The Carrick district, covering Truro and Falmouth, has the highest average house prices in Cornwall at £197,843 - that's £5,000 more than in the London borough of Lewisham, just a 20-minute train ride from Tower Bridge.

Lewisham is not one of the most up-market London areas in which to live but many people will be surprised to learn that average house prices within commuting distance of the City are now cheaper than in parts of Cornwall.

A detailed analysis of property values on the Land Registry's database shows, in fact, that in some Cornish property hotspots, house prices exceed those in several of London's better boroughs. For example, in the TR12 6 postcode area, which covers the eastern half of the Lizard peninsula, eight houses that were sold in the third quarter of 2003 fetched an average price of £297,437. This is higher than in the London borough of Merton (£252,021) or the leafy suburbs of Surrey Heath (£275,195).

The boom in prices in Cornwall has been fuelled by an influx of pensioners from London and the Home Counties who have sold their expensive homes and bought country cottages at a fraction of the cost, releasing equity to fund their retirement and at the same time enjoying a better quality of life.

Although the gap is narrowing between Cornish and London property prices, there is little likelihood that the opportunities for relocation and equity release will disappear in the near future. There are still many parts of the capital and the Home Counties where house prices far exceed even the most expensive areas of Cornwall and, of course, there are still parts of the Duchy where exceptional bargains can be found.

Land registry figures for the third quarter of 2003 show that the lowest average house prices in Cornwall could be found in the TR15 3 postcode sector which includes Pool, between Camborne and Redruth. There were 50 sales during the period with an average price of £106,675. In the adjoining postcode sector of TR15 1, nearer to Redruth, the average price of 26 houses sold was £108,616.

The average price in the whole Kerrier district, which includes Camborne, Redruth, Helston and The Lizard Peninsula, and where 524 homes were sold during the period, was £151,967. Analysis shows that there is a clear division between the more urban north Kerrier district and the rural south Kerrier, which includes the picturesque Lizard peninsula.

By contrast, in the neighbouring Carrick district, there is no clear division, with average prices jumping up and down from area to area. In central Truro, house prices averaged £209,727 in July-September 2003, higher than in the centre of Falmouth (£194,399) and compared to just £146,765 in Penryn. The most expensive homes in the Carrick district were in the TR2 5 postcode area, which includes the Roseland Peninsula, where 27 sales made an average price of £289,146. At the western end of the Carrick district, around the Helford estuary, 53 houses were sold for an average price of £280,705.

But such prices - unimaginable in Cornwall just eight years ago when the Land Registry records began and when the average house cost just £55,272 - are still far short of the best parts of London. In Kensington and Chelsea, for example, the average price of the 878 houses sold during the third quarter of 2003 was £687,363.