House prices increased in Denbighshire in December, new figures show.
The boost contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 8.5% annual growth.
The average Denbighshire house price in December was £164,062, Land Registry figures show – a 2% increase on November.
Over the month, the picture was better than that across Wales, where prices decreased 2.0%, and Denbighshire outperformed the 0.3% 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 fourth among Wales’s 22 local authorities for annual growth.
The best annual growth in the region was in Blaenau Gwent, where properties increased on average by 14.2%, to £102,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Ceredigion dropped 2.1% in value, giving an average price of £184,000.
Winners and Losers
Owners of detached houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices in Denbighshire in December – they increased 2.3%, to £207,124 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 8.5%.
Among other types of property:
Semi-detached: up 1.9% monthly; up 8.9% annually; £147,156 average
Terraced: up 1.5% monthly; up 8.1% annually; £115,655 average
Flats: up 1.2% monthly; up 6.2% annually; £85,781 average
First steps on the property ladder
First-time buyers in Denbighshire spent an average of £146,000 on their property – £11,000 more than a year ago, and £25,000 more than in December 2014.
By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £181,000 on average in December – 23.9% more than first-time buyers.
How do property prices in Denbighshire compare?
Buyers paid 1.0% less than the average price in Wales (£166,000) in December for a property in Denbighshire. Across Wales, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £235,000.
The most expensive properties in Wales were in Monmouthshire – £280,000 on average, and 1.7 times as much as in Denbighshire. Monmouthshire properties cost 2.8 times as much as homes in Blaenau Gwent (£102,000 average), at the other end of the scale.
The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average December sale price of £1.3 million could buy 14 properties in Burnley (average £92,000).
Factfile
Average property price in December
Denbighshire: £164,062
Wales: £165,735
UK: £234,742
Annual growth to December
Denbighshire: +8.5%
Wales: +2.2%
UK: +2.2%
Best and worst annual growth in Wales
Blaenau Gwent: +14.2%
Ceredigion: -2.1%
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