CUMBRIA'S booming property market will slow next year but house prices will still rise by four per cent, experts say. Official Land Registry figures show that 2002 saw the strongest growth in property prices since the late 1980s. The average Cumbrian home rose in value by

12.5 per cent to just under £90,000 in the 12 months to September. Analysts at the mortgage bank Woolwich predict an increase of four per cent in Cumbria in 2003, in contrast to London and the South East, where the boom is already over and house prices have started to fall.

January 8, 2003 09:00