Wealden house prices dropped in February
House prices dropped by 1.1% in Wealden in February, new figures show.
But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 8.4% annual growth.
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Hide AdThe average Wealden house price in February was £426,058, Land Registry figures show – a 1.1% decrease on January.
Over the month, the picture was similar to that across the South East, where prices decreased 1.2%, but Wealden underperformed compared to the 1% drop for the UK as a whole.
Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Wealden rose by £33,000 – putting the area 21st among the South East’s 64 local authorities with price data for annual growth.
The best annual growth in the region was in Maidstone, where property prices increased on average by 12.1%, to £367,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Oxford gained just 0.4% in value, giving an average price of £460,000.
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Hide AdWinners and Losers
Owners of terraced houses fared worst in Wealden in February – they dropped 1.5% in price, to £326,307 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 8.5%.
Among other types of property:
- Detached: down 0.7% monthly; up 8.7% annually; £643,563 average
- Semi-detached: down 1.4% monthly; up 8.9% annually; £388,854 average
- Flats: down 1.2% monthly; up 5.2% annually; £204,937 average
First steps on the property ladder
First-time buyers in Wealden spent an average of £339,000 on their property – £26,000 more than a year ago, and £72,000 more than in February 2018.
By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £474,000 on average in February – 39.6% more than first-time buyers.
How do property prices in Wealden compare?
Buyers paid 7.7% more than the average price in the South East (£396,000) in February for a property in Wealden. Across the South East, property prices are higher than those across the UK, where the average cost £288,000.
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Hide AdThe most expensive properties in the South East were in Elmbridge – £721,000 on average, and 1.7 times as much as more than in Wealden. Elmbridge properties cost 2.8 times as much as homes in Southampton (£255,000 average), at the other end of the scale.
The highest property prices across the UK were in 160.
Factfile
Average property price in February
- Wealden: £426,058
- The South East:£395,571
- UK: £287,506
Annual growth to February
- Wealden: +8.4%
- The South East: +5.8%
- UK: +5.5%
Best and worst annual growth in the South East
- Maidstone: +12.1%
- Oxford: +0.4%