Rock star Courtney Love is looking at buying a home in Sussex.

The former wife of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain is believed to be searching for a new home in Britain.

And she has already fallen in love with at least one property in Hove.

She told fans on her Twitter page: “Ooooh I love Hove I love Sussex this house is just too fantastical and I cant take my eyes off it.”

House prices in Sussex have risen this year which some property agents have put down to the falling value of land in foreign holiday-home hotspots, suggesting Britons are abandoning the dream of a second home abroad in favour of one on the south coast.

Prices in Spain's traditional holiday destinations such as Tenerife have fallen 7% while Ibiza is down 6% and Majorca is 4% down.

In contrast, figures from property search engine Nestoria.co.uk show that the average price of a three-bedroom property in Brighton and Hove rose by 2.8% to £328,000 from June to July.

The average one-bedroom property went up 1.3% to £156,000.

Across Sussex properties have seen the value of property rise in the last few months.

In East Sussex house prices are thought to have risen by up to 2.5% in June and July.

The average price of houses in West Sussex has also risen this summer. The average selling price for three bedroom properties was £295,000 in July, up 2.1% from June.

One bedroom homes in Adur District saw the biggest increase - up 5.8% in a month.

Phil Graves, the vice president of Brighton and Hove Estate Agents Association, warned against reading too much into the results.

Mr Graves, the director of Graves Jenkins estate agents, in Marlborough Place, Brighton, said: “I think sometimes we place too much validity in these theories.

“If there has been an increase in visitor numbers in seaside towns such as Brighton then that is exactly what the experts have been predicting since the beginning of the year because of the weak pound.

“But whether we can relate visitors to the town to increased activity in the residential property market can be extremely dangerous.

“There definitely has been a marked increase in the last few months, with generally more inquiries, more inspections and more offers.

“There are green shoots in the Brighton property market that need to be watered and the problem still comes down to needing banks to offer a generous watering of finance.”