Independent consumer magazine Your Mortgage has carried out the research, which shows that Shrewsbury and north Shropshire will make the biggest gains.

The magazine says that the increases are partly due to fewer homes being built, and also because smaller households and immigration are swelling the adult population. The figures are for the period up to 2010.

North Shropshire will see an overall gain of 17.1 per cent, with gains of six per cent in 2007 and 4.5 per cent in 2008. In Shrewsbury and Atcham there will be gains of 16.8 per cent by 2010 and in Oswestry 14.2 per cent. In Bridgnorth there will be an increase of 14.9 per cent.

Paula John, editor of yourmortgage.co.uk, said: “The increases we are seeing are in a large part down to the basic economics of supply and demand – demand increases all the time as smaller households and inward immigration swell the adult population.

“Furthermore, we are not building anywhere like sufficient numbers of new properties and are not likely to do so in the short to medium term.

“This is underpinned by an increasingly competitive mortgage market keeping the cost of borrowing relatively low, despite this year’s small increase in the Base Rate and with the possibility of a further increase this year.

“This broadly positive economic picture will serve to sustain confidence in house prices, which can itself translate into higher asking and offer prices.”

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