Darlington and the surrounding villages seem to be bucking the trend by keeping the housing market buoyant.

Elsewhere in the North-East, there have been signs that the market is cooling off, thanks to interest rate rises and warnings about the future from the Bank of England.

Chartered surveyor Mike Charlton, head of Charltons estate agency, which has shops in Darlington, Richmond, Barnard Castle and Catterick Garrison, said he had seen no evidence of a slowdown in the area.

"In Darlington and the surrounding area, the housing market is still very buoyant. Even though we are coming up to the holiday period, the level of demand for all types of properties is still high," he said.

"Prices will continue to increase, perhaps not as fast as they were earlier this year, as long as we have more buyers than sellers."

Mr Charlton added that increasing mortgage rates and the cost of stamp duty would be expected to have a calming effect at the more expensive, top end of the market first.

"There is a very strong town and country market, especially in the villages around Darlington, with properties in excess of £600,000 to £700,000. One would expect this sector to show the first effects of any slowdown.

"Having said that, we put an £800,000 property on the market recently and arranged eight viewings in the first three days, which indicates strong interest."

Mike Abel, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' North-East housing spokesman, said the first signs of the market slowing down had been seen in some areas, especially at the top end of the market, while prices and sales remained buoyant in others.

The number of people looking to buy fell sharply in June, indicating that warnings from the Bank of England over market prospects were having a negative impact.

In Stokesley, Michael Westgarth-Taylor, of the Sanderson Taylor Partnership, said that, during the first half of June, interest waned but later there was an increase in inquiries: "There are fewer buyers around but prices continue to increase."

In Bedale, Philip Mills, of Norman F Brown, said: "Stock levels remain low but demand has dropped slightly. The result is that the rate of increase in prices has slowed down. Demand for properties over £350,000 has dropped fairly significantly."

In Richmond, Francis Brown of Norman F Brown said: "Over-ambitious vendors are having to reduce asking prices to generate any interest."