PROPERTY prices at Suffolk’s premier resorts have more than doubled in value over the last decade.

New figures out today show that house prices in seaside towns up and down England and Wales have soared by 128% since 2001.

Suffolk estate agents have seen the national average reflected along much of the county’s coast.

Peter Watson, of Suffolk estate agent Flick & Son, said: “The national trend is certainly reflected in coastal hotspots like Southwold and Aldeburgh. It’s hard to put an average on seaside homes but location is the key. A detached house within striking distance of the high street would be on the market for at least a quarter of a million pounds.

“Victorian terraces along the back rows leading off the high street are worth from �375,000 to �500,000 for a four-bedroom house.

“These are mostly sold as second homes, especially properties in the older historic parts of town.”

A two-bedroom home in Queen Street, Southwold is currently on the market for �595,000, while a newly built house off Aldeburgh High Street, with four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a double garage, has an asking price of �1,250,000, leaving little prospect for local first-time buyers to get on the property ladder.

Mr Watson, whose company has offices in Aldeburgh, Saxmundham, Southwold and Halesworth, said: “It’s nothing new. Local people have been priced out of the market for the last hundred years. There hasn’t been a local market since Victorian times.

“Relatively new to the market is the investor buyer. They realise it is still worth buying because, looking at the history of these towns, the market has never gone back in times of recession.

“I think it will continue. When alarm bells started ringing in August 2007 it caused the market to come to a standstill. Values have since risen by perhaps a percent or two, but not as much as the growth seen before the recession. A really good property, in terms of accommodation and location, may have risen 10%.”

According to the Halifax bank, the most dramatic increases in seaside property prices came in the South West, where house prices more than tripled in the past 10 years.

Sandbanks, in Dorset, leads the way with average property values of �532,652, followed by Padstow, in Cornwall, at �381,916.

But, while many of Suffolk’s resorts continue to dominate the top end of the market, not all seaside towns command high prices. Lowestoft is among the cheapest coastal towns in southern England in which to buy, with average prices at �141,097.