HOUSE hunters can discover the biggest and smallest properties their budget will stretch to by visiting newly launched website Mansion or Maisonette.

Interiors specialist Hillarys is offering the online tool to show the variously sized dwellings that prospective buyers can afford in different parts of the country.

The curtains, shutters and blinds company says the website is designed to help people "better understand what they can get for their money, especially with the housing market being so uncertain at the moment".

After typing in their budget, users are shown the largest and the most modest home in the UK they can buy.

"We all know there can be huge price differences in property across different regions," said Tara Hall, of Hillarys, said, "but it’s interesting to see these differences represented as square footage and see just how far a budget can stretch in certain areas."

For example, a budget of £100,000 could buy a five-bedroom flat at Whitehall Terrace, Sunderland; or a tiny studio at Brighton Marina.

For £150,000 buyers could achieve a six-bedroom terraced house at St Ignatius Square, Preston, with four bathrooms; or squeeze into a one-bedroom houseboat at Portsmouth Road, Surbiton.

Increasing the budget to £250,000 results in a six-bed terraced house at The Oaks, Ashbrooke, Sunderland, with four bathrooms; but the same money would only buy a one-bedroom flat at Mill Road, Cambridge.

Half a million pounds would pocket a sizeable 14-bedroom property at Nether Hall Road, Doncaster, with four bathrooms. However, in the seaside town of Hove, beside Brighton, a two-bedroom flat at Salisbury Road with a single bathroom is all buyers could afford.

Meanwhile, £1 million puts a 14-bedroom, 14-bathroom terraced house at Taverners Road, Peterborough, in reach - or a much more modest two-bedroom flat at South Lambeth Road, Vauxhall, in London.

For more, see www.hillarys.co.uk/static/mansion-or-maisonette