SOARING house prices have turned Marsden into a property hotspot.

Figures from the Halifax bank show that the average house price in the Colne Valley village has almost doubled in just five years, from £77,188 in 2003 to £152,877 now.

The bank’s latest Market Town Review showed that the 98% price increase logged in Marsden was the highest in Yorkshire and Humberside, alongside Goole which saw average house prices rise by a similar percentage, from £79,364 to £156,876.

Marsden was also fourth in the league table for the 25 market towns recording the highest house price increase since 2003.

It came behind Saltburn in Cleveland and Seahouses in Northumberland, where average property prices more than doubled.

Ferryhill in Durham was third, with an average increase of 99%. But it also had the cheapest average house price at £84,982.

Other property hotspots in Yorkshire included Driffield (up by 93% from £94,087 to £181,829); Tickhill, near Doncaster (up 86% from £76,955 to £143,261), and Pickering (up 77% from £130,965 to £231,973).

Despite soaring house prices Marsden remained one of the least expensive market towns in the region.

Its average price of £152,877 compares with £108,161 for Immingham, the market town with the cheapest prices.

Easingwold has the highest-priced property at £301,929.

Nationally, Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire was the costliest, with an average house price of £704,724.

The report showed that two-thirds of market towns in the UK now had average prices higher than their neighbouring towns in their county.

Nineteen market towns now have an average price exceeding £300,000 while 60 out of 112 recorded house price growth above the average for England as a whole in the past five years.

Martin Ellis, chief economist at the Halifax, said: “Home buyers continue to be attracted to the high quality of life, architecture, history, setting and community spirit offered by market towns and are prepared to pay a premium to live there.

“Most market towns have higher house prices than other towns in the county.

“The majority have also seen stronger house price growth than the English average over the past five years.”

The survey defines a market town as a town with between 3,000 and 30,000 inhabitants.

The towns featured in the Halifax survey are those appearing in the annual market town survey conducted by the Campaign to Protect Rural England.