House prices dropped by 4% in the Forest of Dean in August, new figures show.

The drop contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 2% annual decline.

The average the Forest of Dean house price in August was £307,901, Land Registry figures show – a 4% decrease on July.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the South West, where prices increased 1.2%, and the Forest of Dean was lower than the 0.3% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in the Forest of Dean fell by £6,400 – putting the area 20th among the South West’s 26 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in South Hams, where property prices increased on average by 4.6%, to £443,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in West Devon lost 4% of their value, giving an average price of £313,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in the Forest of Dean spent an average of £242,500 on their property – £5,500 less than a year ago, but £52,400 more than in August 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £342,400 on average in August – 41.2% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of flats saw the biggest fall in property prices in the Forest of Dean in August – they dropped 4.7% in price, to £128,853 on average. Over the last year, prices dropped by 4.5%.

Among other types of property:

How do property prices in the Forest of Dean compare?

Buyers paid 6.2% less than the average price in the South West (£328,000) in August for a property in the Forest of Dean. Across the South West, property prices are higher than those across the UK, where the average cost is £291,000.

The most expensive properties in the South West were in Cotswold – £492,000 on average, and 1.6 times the price as in the Forest of Dean. Cotswold properties cost 2.2 times the price as homes in Plymouth (£222,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea (£1.4 million).

Factfile

Average property price in August

Annual change to August

Highest and lowest annual growth in the South West