THE rapid rise in house prices in Newport has led to a bungalow that sold for around £100,000 in June last year being put on the market for £220,000 only eight months later.

The bungalow, which replaced one of the city's historic prefabs, is at Ridgeway Walk.

The two-bedroomed home is the first of the prefab replacements to hit the open market.

The price of the average house in Newport has doubled in the past four years, and shot up 27.9 per cent in 2004.

The bungalow owner, a former prefab resident, paid around £100,000 for the new building and he moved in during June 2004.

Now looking to secure a gain of around £120,000, estate agents Crook and Blight are advertising the property as "deceptively spacious, with wood laminate floor, garden, good size bathroom with separate shower area and pleasant lawned gardens."

The bungalow is one of around 500 that will be completed by 2007 to replace 600 prefabs across Newport.

Only former prefab residents were given the special option to buy the new bungalows and 104 are expected to become privately owned.

A bungalow of the same design around the corner from Ridgeway Walk was bought by its owner for just £105,000 last April.

And a former prefab resident at Treberth paid £80,000 for a new bungalow in January 2004.

In Newport, latest figures show the average house prices is £129,397 - almost double the 2000 figure of £67,287.

Phil Toms, chief executive of Newport Housing Trust, who are managing the prefab transition and new bungalows, said: "We are pleased someone thinks the quality of our homes is worth so much."

Mr Toms said the Trust had not sold the homes too cheaply and that prices had been agreed by a independent valuer and the district valuer.

Roger King, 71, who lives in Ridgeway Walk, said: "The way houses have gone up is phenomenal. £100,000 in under a year is very nice. I don't know if he'll get that price but good luck to him."

And Muriel Reilly, of nearby Ridgeway Close, 65, said: "It's all wrong. Anyone who can afford to buy one should buy it and stay in it. This was built as an estate for old aged people."

Estate agents Crook and Blight and the owner of the bungalow refused to comment.