House prices dropped by 4.4% – more than the average for Wales – in Monmouthshire in October, new figures show.

The drop contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 1.8% annual decline.

The average Monmouthshire house price in October was £345,521, Land Registry figures show – a 4.4% decrease on September.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across Wales, where prices decreased 0.5%, and Monmouthshire was lower than the 0.7% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Monmouthshire fell by £6,200 – putting the area 11th 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 3.1%, to £319,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Merthyr Tydfil lost 10.9% of their value, giving an average price of £137,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Monmouthshire spent an average of £266,700 on their property – £5,200 less than a year ago, but £60,500 more than in October 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £403,000 on average in October – 51.1% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of flats saw the biggest fall in property prices in Monmouthshire in October – they dropped 4.9% in price, to £159,926 on average. Over the last year, prices dropped by 3.6%.

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 October. The average price paid would buy 2.7 homes in Blaenau Gwent (£130,000), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, at £1.4 million.

Across Wales, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost is £288,000.

Factfile

Average property price in October

Annual change to October

Highest and lowest annual growth in Wales