HOUSE prices dropped by 2.8% in Denbighshire in May, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 8.5% annual growth.

The average Denbighshire house price in May was £172,523, Land Registry figures show – a 2.8% decrease on April.

Over the month, the picture was worse than that across Wales, where prices increased 0.8%, and Denbighshire underperformed compared to the 0.9% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Denbighshire rose by £13,000 – putting the area 19th among Wales’s 22 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Merthyr Tydfil, where property prices increased on average by 21.7%, to £128,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Newport lost 1.4% of their value, giving an average price of £188,000.

Winners and Losers

Owners of detached houses fared worst in Denbighshire in May – they dropped 3.1% in price, to £217,616 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 8.6%.

Among other types of property:

Semi-detached: down 2.7% monthly; up 8.4% annually; £154,482 averageTerraced: down 2.4% monthly; up 9.1% annually; £123,343 averageFlats: down 2.7% monthly; up 5.2% annually; £87,602 average

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Denbighshire spent an average of £154,000 on their property – £12,000 more than a year ago, and £28,000 more than in May 2016.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £191,000 on average in May – 24.1% more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Denbighshire compare?

Buyers paid 6.4% less than the average price in Wales (£184,000) in May for a property in Denbighshire. Across Wales, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £255,000.

The most expensive properties in Wales were in Monmouthshire – £302,000 on average, and 1.8 times as much as in Denbighshire. Monmouthshire properties cost 2.7 times as much as homes in Blaenau Gwent (£111,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average May sale price of £1.2 million could buy 12 properties in Burnley (average £100,000).

Factfile

Average property price in May

Denbighshire: £172,523Wales: £184,297UK: £254,624Annual growth to May

Denbighshire: +8.5%Wales: +13.3%UK: +10%Best and worst annual growth in Wales

Merthyr Tydfil: +21.7%Newport: -1.4%