Many prepared to pay the price to live in an English market town

A typical property in a market town costs around 231,163, 14 per cent or 29,319 more than the average for the county they are in, according to Lloyds TSB.

It costs more to buy a house in 69 per cent of market towns, compared with buying a property in neighbouring towns, with Beaconsfield commanding the highest premium, with properties selling for 145 per cent more than across Buckinghamshire as a whole.

Wetherby has the next biggest premiums, with homes in the town costing 99 per cent more than the average for West Yorkshire, while in Bakewell homes cost around 90 per cent more than in the rest of Derbyshire.

Beaconsfield is also the most expensive English market town in which to buy a home, with the average property costing 736,585, followed by Winchcombe in Gloucestershire at 360,451 and Cranbrook in Kent at 353,726.

All of the top 10 most expensive market towns are in the South, with Wetherby the most expensive market town outside of southern England, with average property prices of 311,140.

At the other end of the scale, Ferryhill in Durham is the cheapest market town in which to buy a home, with average prices of just 98,799.

It is followed by Crook, also in Durham, at 107,769 and Immingham in Lincolnshire at 110,620.

Only 10 market towns have average house prices of less than 150,000, and three of these are in Durham, while two are in Lincolnshire.

Martin Ellis, housing economist at Lloyds TSB, said: "Homes in market towns command a significant premium over their neighbouring towns with the quality of life benefits often associated with living in such locations still proving popular among homebuy-ers."