House prices dropped by 1.5% in West Devon 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% over the last year – though still the lowest in the South West.

An imbalance between supply and demand for properties has remained the primary reason behind climbing house prices across the UK throughout the pandemic.

The need for larger deposits and constraints on accessing mortgages have pushed homeownership further out of reach for many first-time buyers – despite Government figures showing 50% of renters would be able to afford the monthly payments.

In a recent major speech in Blackpool, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a “comprehensive review” of the mortgage market would take place in a bid to help more people onto the property ladder.

The average West Devon house price in April was £288,604, Land Registry figures show – a 1.5% decrease on March.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the South West, where prices increased 1.9%, and West Devon was lower than the 1.1% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in West Devon rose by £11,000 – putting the area bottom among the South West’s 29 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in North Devon, where property prices increased on average by 20.8%, to £333,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in West Devon spent an average of £217,500 on their property – £7,600 more than a year ago, and £38,200 more than in April 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £325,700 on average in April – 49.8% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of flats saw the biggest fall in property prices West Devon in April – they dropped 1.7% in price, to £136,333 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 1%.

Among other types of property:

How do property prices in West Devon compare?

Buyers paid 9.4% less than the average price in the South West (£319,000) in April for a property in West Devon. Across the South West, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £281,000.

The most expensive properties in the South West were in Cotswold – £471,000 on average, and 1.6 times as much as more than in West Devon. Cotswold properties cost 2.2 times as much as homes in Plymouth (£216,000 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 growth to April

Highest and lowest annual growth in the South West