House prices dropped slightly, by 0.3%, in the Cumberland Council Aarea 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 4.3% over the last year.

The average Cumberland house price in April was £163,918, Land Registry figures show – a 0.3% decrease on March.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the North West, where prices increased 0.7%, and Cumberland was lower than the 0.5% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Cumberland rose by £6,700 – putting the area 23rd among the North West’s 35 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

First-time buyers in Cumberland spent an average of £139,100 on their property – £5,300 more than a year ago, and £22,500 more than in April 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £188,700 on average in April – 35.6% more than first-time buyers.

Owners of terraced houses saw the biggest fall in property prices in Cumberland in April – they dropped 0.6% in price, to £128,258 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 3.1%.