SHOREHAM-BY-SEA is to Brighton as David Cameron is to Tony Blair. It boasts green credentials and it’s just a little further to the right (along the Sussex coast). And, after years of growing quietly, it now threatens to eclipse its rival.

“Around 70 per cent of our buyers are coming from Brighton & Hove,” says Mike Crysell, home-moving adviser at the Halifax estate agents in Shoreham (locals don’t use “by-Sea”). “It’s mostly first-time buyers priced out of Brighton & Hove. They can still get a decent-sized house here for the price of a pokey flat there.” Right now Crysell has a two-bedroom starter home with rear garden for £167,000. In Brighton, where I live, that would just about buy a one-bedroom flat, sans sea-views and needing work. According to Land Registry figures, a terraced house in Shoreham averages £196,047. Just six miles along the seafront in Brighton, it is £249,888. No wonder Crysell’s phone is ringing off the hook.

Shoreham may be more affordable than Brighton, but what is life like there? The claim that Shoreham is the new Brighton is made with regularity by those who have just bought there; but they do so at dinner parties in Brighton (because no one will do the 15-minute drive to Shoreham). In fact, most of them still go to Brighton to shop, eat and work. Yes, you can get decent coffee in Shoreham — the bakery on Ferry Road does some surprisingly frothy numbers. You can even get cantuccini for dunking from Le Grand Fromagerie. But it’s not Brighton — you can’t get a skinny soyaccino. Not yet.

Signs of life as we know it are appearing. Café Nia recently expanded here from its base in Brighton’s trendy North Laine, bringing the concept of brunch; it’s doing well. The newly opened Angel Lounge does brisk boozy business with cocktails, and local salons now proudly offer beauty service for men — essential in such a metrosexual climate.

About 20,000 people live in Shoreham — against almost 250,000 in Brighton. The town is split into two by the tidal River Adur (pronounced Eh-Dur): Shoreham Beach and Shoreham Town. Residents are as likely to have a boat in their drive as a car. The Sussex Yacht Club is here and children at the highly rated local schools often join the Sea Scouts. The nearby port is one of England’s busiest. Giant container ships dwarf the fishing boats still plying these waters. Fresh fish is for sale on the beach — the fishermen even clean it for you.

Shoreham Beach is almost entirely residential. Locals call it Bungalow Town. It was recently designated a Local Nature Reserve and rare and special plants colonise the pebbles; dolphins have been seen offshore. Homes on one side of Old Fort Road have uninterrupted sea views and big gardens opening on to the beach. “They’re twice as expensive as houses across the road,” says Crysell. “

We’re talking £600,000 versus £300,000.”

Bryant Homes is building almost 300 apartments and houses here. Only two apartments remain from the first phase. One investor, from Berkshire, bought three. The next phase has two bedroom/two-bathroom flats for just £185,000. Most enjoy watery views and you can see the Downs from the higher floors. You would hardly be closer to the beach if you were in one of the pretty painted huts.

Cross the footbridge to Shoreham Town. The most desirable streets are in the old part: John, Middle, Ship and West — where you could buy a 200-year-old fishermen’s cottage for £250,000 plus. Don’t expect parking or a garden. Bigger family homes are on Windlesham Road, Windlesham Gardens and Buckingham Road. where £300,000 to £500,000 gives you room for a pony. Flats by the station are in demand, as the train time to London Victoria is 73 minutes.

The residential boats moored on the Adur are loved or loathed locally. Some think that this mad, rag-tag armada is messy, others that it is charming. It certainly adds colour. They rarely come on the market; a local agent recently valued one at £160,000.

There are rumours that the scrapyard on the town’s edge is to be developed along with the old postal depot and every other spare scrap of land. Shoreham may soon become a suburb of Brighton. Things, as Tony Blair once said, can only get better. And bigger.
Halifax: 01273 361866
Bryant Homes: 01273 446462

FACT FILE

20 per cent of Shoreham’s population commute to London daily.

Times recommends

• Second homes: credit crunch casualty or money-spinner?
• How I built my own sliding house
• Top 10 incentives for house buyers