House prices dropped by 1.4% in Monmouthshire in December, new figures show.

The drop contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 1.6% annual decline.

The average Monmouthshire house price in December was £347,574, Land Registry figures show – a 1.4% decrease on November.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across Wales, where prices increased 0.9%, and Monmouthshire was lower than the 0.1% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Monmouthshire fell by £5,800 – putting the area 10th among Wales’s 22 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in the Vale of Glamorgan, where property prices increased on average by 4.7%, to £323,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Ceredigion lost 11.4% of their value, giving an average price of £233,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Monmouthshire spent an average of £269,600 on their property – £4,000 less than a year ago, but £62,600 more than in December 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £404,100 on average in December – 49.9% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest fall in property prices in Monmouthshire in December – they dropped 1.9% in price, to £503,126 on average. Over the last year, prices dropped by 1.8%.

Among other types of property:

How do property prices in Monmouthshire compare?

Buyers paid more for properties in Monmouthshire than anywhere else in Wales in December. The average price paid would buy 2.7 homes in Blaenau Gwent (£131,000), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea.

Across Wales, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost is £285,000.

Factfile

Average property price in December

Annual change to December

Highest and lowest annual growth in Wales