House prices dropped slightly, by 0.5%, in Waverley in April, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 0.1% over the last year.

The average Waverley house price in April was £514,741. Land Registry figures show a 0.5% decrease on March.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the South East, where prices increased 1.4%, and Waverley was lower than the 0.3% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Waverley rose by £410 – putting the area 20th among the South East’s 64 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in West Oxfordshire, where property prices increased on average by 7.8%, to £399,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Canterbury lost 10.3% of their value, giving an average price of £322,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Waverley spent an average of £378,100 on their property – £2,300 more than a year ago, and £52,400 more than in April 2019.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £602,200 on average in April – 59.3% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest fall in property prices in Waverley in April – they dropped 0.8% in price, to £849,787 on average. Over the last year, prices dropped by 1.1%.

Among other types of property:

How do property prices in Waverley compare?

Buyers paid 37.2% more than the average price in the South East (£375,000) in April for a property in Waverley. Across the South East, property prices are high compared to those across the UK, where the average cost is £281,000.

The most expensive properties in the South East were in Elmbridge – £632,000 on average, and 1.2 times the price as in Waverley. Elmbridge properties cost 2.7 times the price as homes in Gosport (£237,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea.

Factfile

Average property price in April

Annual change to April

Highest and lowest annual growth in the South East