House prices drop in North and West Cumbria

The drop contributes to the longer-term trend which has seen property prices in the Cumberland Council area experience a 1.9 per cent annual decline.

The average house price in the area in September was £165,813 according to Land Registry figures, a 1.2 per cent decrease from August.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the Northwest, where prices increased 0.5 per cent, and the Cumberland Council area was lower than the 0.5 per cent drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in the area fell by £3,200 – putting the area 27th among the Northwest’s 35 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Ribble Valley, where property prices increased on average by 7.3 per cent, to £284,000.

At the other end of the scale, properties in Burnley lost 10.9 per cent of their value, giving an average price of £105,000.

First-time buyers in the Cumberland area spent an average of £140,900 on their property, £3,000 less than a year ago, but £20,700 more than in September 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £190,600 on average in September – 35.3 per cent more than first-time buyers.

Owners of flats saw the biggest fall in property prices in Cumberland in September – they dropped 1.7 per cent in price, to £91,933 on average.

Over the last year, prices dropped by 3.2 per cent.

Buyers paid 23.9 per cent less than the average price in the Northwest (£218,000) in September for a property in Cumberland.

Across the Northwest, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost is £291,000.

The most expensive properties in the Northwest were in Trafford – £366,000 on average, and 2.2 times the price as in Cumberland.

Trafford properties cost 3.5 times the price as homes in Burnley (£105,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

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