The Sussex property price bubble, which has seen costs rise by 15 per cent in a year, may be about to burst according to a new report.
The Halifax regional house price survey says the South could bear the brunt of a slowdown in the housing market.
Last year's rise in Sussex home prices confirmed the county as one of the most expensive places to buy a property.
But the rise in the last quarter of 2001 was slower than the third quarter and experts predict the property market will weaken in 2002, with only slight rises.
Today's survey put West Sussex at number seven in the list of the most expensive counties and East Sussex, including Brighton and Hove, at number eight.
Sussex was only beaten by Greater London and the counties in the surrounding commuter belt.
The survey showed the average price of a semi in West Sussex was £158,380.
The figure was £149,800 for East Sussex, Brighton and Hove.
The same sort of money would buy three semi-detached homes in South Humberside and parts of Wales.
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