by Tim Collins

It's a game of snakes and ladders for Kent homeowners - with huge profits or crippling losses to be made depending where you live.

Latest figures released by the Land Registry reveal a huge divide between areas just a few miles apart.

In Sevenoaks, if you own an average-priced flat you will have seen a near 22% rise in your home's value between October and December last year, compared to the same period the previous year.

You will now be sitting on a home worth nearly £224,000.

Meanwhile, in Thanet, your average-priced flat will be worth just £103,000 today - and you will have made a whopping 16% loss in that time.

Flat owners are the county-wide winners generally - with the average homeowner's profit across the county standing at 5%.

Meanwhile Ashford terraced homeowners come out tops for the percentage increase in the value of their home - at just over 10% more than they were worth last year.

The biggest losers were terraced property owners in Sevenoaks - whose homes are now worth nearly 4% less than last year.

The average increase for terraced homes was just over 2%.

Bill Dane, head of Ashford homes at Hobbs Parker at Orbital Park said the figures for the area didn't surprise him: “The cheaper properties and older-style terraced properties have seen an increase in demand, both from investors, first-time buyers and others.

“There’s is a shortage of these types of properties within the newer-style developments, and they are becoming a bit of a rarity.

"But these more traditional forms stand the test of time with buyers. If we take these type of properties on, they don’t hang around for long."

He said it made for an awkward situation for first time buyers, but for people on their second move or those moving up the property ladder it allowed them to move upward on to bigger homes.

The information shows that the average price of a terraced property in Ashford is £171,056, some £29,296 more than the county-wide average of £141,760.

Aaron Ingram and his partner Rachel Taylor, 21, bought their first home in Stanhope in the town for around £120,000 just over a year ago.

Aaron, 22, works for Saga in Folkestone as an IT specialist, and said rising prices are a two-way street for young buyers.

He added: “The main difficulty for us was getting the deposit, which cost us around £9,500.

“We were fortunate that family could help us, but I don’t know how long it would have taken us to save that much on our own; a long time.

“I do feel for people in that situation, but I think it can only be a good thing for Ashford in the long run that there is more money coming into the town."