Are you sitting on a gold mine? Or is the value of your bricks and mortar worth LESS than it was nearly 10 years ago?

If you're a winner in Kent's snakes and ladders game it might be worth keeping the family home for a little while longer.

After all, many Kent homeowners have seen a bigger rise in the value of their homes in recent years than they've had a wage rise!

But not all homes in the county are sitting pretty.

Some areas have actually seen a dip in the amount their property is worth, compared with nearly a decade ago, according to the latest available figures from the Office of National Statistics.

Although the increase in house prices makes it more difficult to get onto the property ladder, the figures show what a huge financial bonus it is to be working in Kent and owning a house, as properties are increasing in price.

In 2005 you could expect to buy a semi-detached house in Canterbury for around £178,000, but 10 years later the home is now worth £220,000, making around a £40,000 profit.

Meanwhile, the average salary in that area has increased by just over £3,000 over the same timescale, meaning the house has made more than 13 times that.

In fact, the value of homes in the county has tripled over the last 20 years - this goes for detached, semi detached, flats and terraced housing.

There was once a day - in 2005 - where you could buy a detached home in Thanet for £228,000 - one of the cheapest in Kent at the time.

Now you would have to fork out more towards the £270,000 mark. Despite the massive increase, Thanet’s average salary has actually GONE DOWN by £350.

A semi-detached house in Ashford would have set you back around £167,000 a decade ago, but now it would be closer to £210,000.

The house has earned more than 12 times the increase in Ashford’s average salary - which is a difference of £3,500.

Edward Church, head of estate agency in Kent for Strutt & Parker, said: “Fundamentally it’s to do with supply and demand and in particular lack of new house building.

“There are more people wanting to buy houses than there are houses available, that together with rising wages over that period has seen house price inflation grow dramatically.”

The increase in house prices may seem a bit depressing, but there’s good news if you are looking to buy a flat in Ashford, Gravesham or Maidstone.

In Ashford they are more than £5,000 cheaper than they were in 2005, Gravesham's are £3,500 less and Maidstone flats have gone down by a whopping £20,000.

Mr Church added: “I think there are two areas which will be particular hot spots to live. One of them will be Thanet, driven by the improvements in the railway communications to London.

“I also think North Kent areas within easy access of Ebbsfleet International Station for the same reason that communications will be better.

"People can travel in and out of London and earn London salaries but live in further out places.”

The ONS figures show the median for each area. The median house price for each borough is the middle value of all the homes in the area.

This is a good measure as it’s not affected by extremely low or high priced housing.

It's not just the houses in Kent which are worth more than they were in the nineties.

A former council flat in Covent Garden sold for more than nine times its original price today.

The seller bought it for £130,000 in 1990 and it was sold for £1.2m - making it one of the most expensive former local authority houses ever sold in central London.