House prices dropped slightly, by 0.7%, in the Cumberland Council area in March, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 4.8% over the last year.

The average Cumberland house price in March was £165,722, Land Registry figures show – a 0.7% decrease on February.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the North West, where prices decreased 1.3%, and Cumberland was above the 1.2% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Cumberland rose by £7,600 – putting the area 29th among the North West’s 35 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

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First-time buyers in Cumberland spent an average of £140,700 on their property – £6,200 more than a year ago, and £24,900 more than in March 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £190,700 on average in March – 35.6% more than first-time buyers.

Buyers paid 21.7% less than the average price in the North West (£212,000) in March for a property in Cumberland. Across the North West, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £285,000.