House prices increased by 1.4% in Cornwall in January, new figures show.

The boost contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 13% annual growth – the highest in the South West.

The average Cornwall house price in January was £265,775, Land Registry figures show – a 1.4% increase on December.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across the South West, where prices decreased 1.8%, and Cornwall outperformed the 0.5% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Cornwall rose by £31,000 – putting the area top among the South West’s 32 local authorities for annual growth.

At the other end of the scale, properties in West Devon gained 1.4% in value, giving an average price of £266,000.

Winners and Losers

Owners of semi-detached houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices in Cornwall in January – they increased 1.9%, to £256,647 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 13.3%.

Among other types of property:

Detached: up 1.4% monthly; up 14.2% annually; £389,039 average

Terraced: up 1.4% monthly; up 13.4% annually; £211,719 average

Flats: up 0.2% monthly; up 8.1% annually; £150,177 average

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Cornwall spent an average of £218,000 on their property – £24,000 more than a year ago, and £44,000 more than in December 2015.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £300,000 on average in January – 37.8% more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Cornwall compare?

Buyers paid 3.2% less than the average price in the South West (£275,000) in January for a property in Cornwall. Across the South West, property prices are higher than those across the UK, where the average cost £249,000.

The most expensive properties in the South West were in the Cotswolds – £415,000 on average, and 1.6 times as much as in Cornwall. The Cotswolds properties cost 2.1 times as much as homes in Plymouth (£194,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average January sale price of £1.3 million could buy 14 properties in Blaenau Gwent (average £93,000).

Factfile

Average property price in January

Cornwall: £265,775

The South West: £274,648

UK: £249,309

Annual growth to January

Cornwall: +13%

The South West: +6.7%

UK: +7.5%

Best and worst annual growth in the South West

Cornwall: +13.0%

West Devon: +1.4%

 

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