THE Millennium housing market is on the way up, but the Dome has got nothing to do with it, according to Greenwich property experts.

With the rumours that celebs such as Liz Hurley and Kate Bush are prepared to fork out hundreds of thousands to live by the riverbank near the Dome, a frenzy has been whipped up about the money to be made out of the influx of wannabe Domesiders.

But local property experts are being more cautious. They all concede your average two-up, two-down Victorian terrace in Greenwich "proper" has had a price-hike of between 50 and 60 per cent over the last two years.

They also concede that some people are buying trashy-looking properties for over-the-odds prices because Greenwich town is a trendy place to live.

The people who tend to do this are mostly, in the words of one local expert, "the kind who make you sick". For example, first-time buyers looking for £180,000 properties with 95 per cent mortgages.

But the market is currently steady, and all agree if Millennium fever hits the local property market, it is going to have very little to do with construction on the nearby peninsula.

"It's a load of rubbish to say just because somebody's building something on a bit of wasteland down the road the prices are going to go up," said Martin Longhurst of estate agents Humphrey Shift & Co.

Miles Covey, of Meridian Estates agrees, but also thinks the long-term influx of money into the town because of the Millennium celebrations, together with improved transport links with the rest of London, will make it a good deal.

"That will mean price rises over the next few years," he told the News Shopper, "and that will make buying property in Greenwich itself a very good investment."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.