House prices increased by 1.7% in Powys in February, new figures show.

The boost contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 8.1% annual growth.

The average Powys house price in February was £251,937, Land Registry figures show – a 1.7% increase on January.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across Wales, where prices decreased 0.6%, and Powys outperformed the 1% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Powys rose by £19,000 – putting the area 10th among Wales’s 22 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Carmarthenshire, where property prices increased on average by 14.8%, to £214,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Gwynedd lost 1.3% of their value, giving an average price of £201,000.

Winners and Losers

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices in Powys in February – they increased 2%, to £340,525 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 8.4%.

Among other types of property:

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Powys spent an average of £220,000 on their property – £16,000 more than a year ago, and £61,000 more than in February 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £283,000 on average in February – 28.6% more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Powys compare?

Buyers paid 17% more than the average price in Wales (£215,000) in February for a property in Powys. Across Wales, property prices are higher than those across the UK, where the average cost £288,000.

The most expensive properties in Wales were in Monmouthshire – £365,000 on average, and 1.4 times as much as more than in Powys. Monmouthshire properties cost 2.7 times as much as homes in Blaenau Gwent (£137,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in 160.

Factfile

Average property price in February

Annual growth to February

Best and worst annual growth in Wales