HOUSE prices across west and north Wiltshire have levelled off but homeowners in Warminster can now expect to pay more than those in traditionally more expensive towns such as Devizes and Chippenham.

In a recent survey carried out by Halifax Estate Agents, house prices in Warminster rose 26.8 per cent in 2004 to reach an average of £204,766, showing the 181st highest percentage rise of the 613 towns featured.

In Chippenham prices have risen by 14.4 per cent, taking the average to £196,260.

Steve Smith, Wiltshire area manager for Halifax Estate Agents, said: "Traditionally prices in Warminster would be less than in Chippenham but because people have moved to towns where values were lower, it has evened out.

"In west Wiltshire, Bradford on Avon still demands a premium but other towns have levelled out quite a lot."

In Trowbridge the average house price has risen by 21.5 per cent to £178,940, in Westbury a 15.3 per cent rise has taken the average to £174,166 and in Calne prices are up 14.5 per cent, taking the average to £177,420. Bradford on Avon was not included in the survey.

The town locally to see the lowest percentage rise was Melksham, where the price of the average home rose by just seven per cent to £176,611.

The sharpest price hikes across the country were seen in the west, but agents now feel prices are levelling off, leaving a strong housing market.

Mr Smith said he did not feel the market was heading in the same direction as in the 80s and 90s, when soaring prices and high unemployment levels led to a disastrous market crash, with many people left owning homes which were no longer worth what they had paid.