Northumberland home owners see values fall

Land Registry figures show average house prices in the county dropped by 3.6% in April – but the longer term trend has seen property values in the area achieve 6.4% annual growth.

The average price for a house in Northumberland in April was £164,879 – but the monthly decrease in values was worse than that across the North East, where prices fell by 1.7%. The housing market in the area was also below the 1.9% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in the area has risen by £9,900.

The best annual growth in the region was in Hartlepool, where property prices increased on average by 20.1%, to £125,000.

Owners of detached houses in Northumberland fared worst in April. The market saw average prices drop by 3.7% in price, to an average of £277,556 but, over the past year, values have risen by 6.9%.

Among other types of property, the owners of semi-detached homes saw their value drop by 3.3% over the month to an average of £156,059 but this was up annually by 6.2%.

The value of a terraced property was down by 3.5% monthly – but still up 6.6% annually to an average of £129,480.

The prices being paid for flats fell by 3.4% monthly – but up 3.4% annually – to an average of £87,068.

First-time buyers in Northumberland spent an average of £134,200 on their property – £7,800 more than a year ago, and £14,600 more than in April 2016.

The figures show buyers in the area still paid 14.5% more than the average price in the North East – £144,000 - in April.

Across the region, property prices remain low compared to national values and the average price of a home in the UK stood £251,000 in April.

The most expensive properties in the North East were in North Tyneside – £186,000 on average.

The highest property prices nationally were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average April sale price was £1.1m.