Latest market survey from agents Knight Frank reckons property prices in Central London rose 3.9% in July, the highest monthly rate of growth since its index began in 1976, with the annualised rate of 36.4% in the past 12 months also the highest rate since mid-1979.

New data from Spicerhaarts, with 250 branches across the country, says buoyant price growth in the housing market cooled in the last quarter. Average annual price growth in August was 5.46%, against 6.59% in February.

Says Paul Smith of haart estate agents, part of Spicerhaart: "London has not been affected in the same way as the rest of the country, with its property market still showing the strongest levels of price growth and activity in the country."

Mr Heaton says the LCPPF will soon be closed to new investments.

:: INFORMATION: London Central Portfolio Property Fund (LCPPF) enquiries on 020 7723 1733.

:: WILL AUTUMN AUCTION SALES FACE CASH CRUNCH?

The first residential property auctions of the autumn are stuffed with flats and houses needing extensive repairs and renovation - which could help buyers with ready cash.

Says Chris Coleman-Smith, head of residential auctions at London and country agents Savills: "There is lots of property on offer where you can add value, by turning one-bedroomed flats into two bedrooms, or converting houses into flats.

"But the big unknown is whether banks will be free and easy with the money, or more careful on lending criteria because of fears of a worldwide credit crunch.

"There may be a new emphasis on quality of lending for two or three months, until things begin to settle down."

Star London properties in Savills' sale on September 17 include a three-bedroomed house in up-and-coming Walthamstow, East London, guided at £165,000; a two-bedroomed flat near East Putney Underground (£200,000), and a large gap in a terrace in Camberwell (£295,000), South London, which could be rebuilt as four flats; and five former Peabody (housing association) flats in the Queenstown Road area of trendy Battersea, south of the Thames, with space to create three bedroomed homes (£300,000+ each).

Coleman-Smith thinks a smart buyer could snaffle a mid-terraced house in Hammersmith, South-West London (£375,000+)- and renovate it to sell one flat and retain the other, practically for free.

Lots outside London include a two-bedroomed basement flat in a Georgian terrace near Bath's Royal Crescent (£225,000), and a three-bedroomed semi in the Kentish village of Wye, near Ashford, needing extensive renovations (£210,000).

With high-speed trains cutting journey times between London and Paris down to little over two hours, investors in Kent will be looking closely at the latest series of sales from Clive Emson.

Emson's Maidstone sale on September 21 includes council-owned terraced houses in Strood, near Rochester, guided at £90,000-95,000, and similar properties in the Folkestone/Dover area (£75,000-80,000). Buyers who can keep refurb costs under tight control could see substantial capital gains if sales go through near these levels.

The wreckage of a fire-damaged bungalow on a good size plot in Crowborough, East Sussex, could attract self-builders who find it difficult to find land in Southern England - guide price is £125,000- 150,000.

Business from Kent to the Isle of Wight and the Hampshire/Sussex coasts is booming so fast for Emson, that the agency has opened a new head office in Maidstone, Kent - bought at a Manchester auction in February.

The third key auction for properties in London and surrounding suburbs on September 20 is a joint sale by Willmotts and Andrews & Robertson.

Lots include a two-bedroomed maisonette in Kennington, South London, earning £12,000 a year rent (£150,000+); a splendid Victorian semi in Camberwell divided into three flats (£700,000+); and a two-bedroomed ground floor flat in up-and-coming Telegraph Hill, South London (£120,000).

Something over £450,000 is expected for a building plot in fashionable East Dulwich, South London, cleared and offered with planning permission for a contemporary modern home.

Residential property auctions are booming up North too. In the current issue of Estates Gazette, a leading journal for the property sector, Stephen Swainson, a director of Pugh & Co, says auctions have become "the preferred method for disposing of, and buying, property by both individuals and organisations."

Pugh has moved its sales to a suite at Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium, to cater for 1,000-plus audiences at its sales.

:: INFORMATION: Savills (020 7824 9091); Clive Emson & Partners (0845 850 0333); Andrews & Robertson (020 7703 4401).

:: BROOM CUPBOARD COULD BE SWAPPED FOR COUNTRY HOME

With living space in central London nearing the mind-boggling price level of £3,000 per sq ft, it could be technically possibly to sell a wardrobe in Belgravia to buy a country home in Wales, Scotland, east Anglia or Derbyshire, says a leading firm of househunters.

Jonathan Haward, managing director of County Homesearch, which tracks down homes for people too busy to look for themselves, says: "For the cost of the floor space of a mere clothes cupboard in prime parts of the capital, you could get a charming period property in other parts of the country."

County Homesearch assumes a walk-in wardrobe in Kensington or Belgravia, measuring 10 feet square, would cost £300,000 at £3,000 per square foot.

Take that value to the countryside, it says, and you could stretch to a two-bedroomed lodge with 260 feet of river frontage in Perthshire, Scotland (£285,000); a two-bedroomed self-contained studio/cottage in Llanafan, West Wales with three acres on the River Ystwyth and fishing rights (£285,000); a three-bedroomed semi-detached period cottage in Reydon, Suffolk (£300,000) and a two-bedroomed double fronted cottage in Ashover, Derbyshire (£310,000).

Says Jonathan Haward: "There has to be a limit as to what people will pay for a house and we predict prices in the capital will level off as they have already begin to do so in the provinces."

::INFORMATION: County Homesearch (01872 223 349).

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