Northumberland home owners finish the year in profit

The latest Land Registry figures show house prices dropped by 2%, in Northumberland in December – but the drop did not reverse the longer-term trend, which saw property values increase by 10.2% over the year.

The average price of a house in the area in December was £167,879, – a 2% decrease on November.

Over the month, the picture was worse than that across the North East, where prices increased by 1.9%, and prices also lagged behind the national average rise of 1.2%.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Northumberland rose by £16,000 – putting the area second among the North East’s 13 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in County Durham, where property prices increased on average by 10.9%, to £114,000.

At the other end of the scale, properties in Hartlepool lost 3.8% of their value, giving an average price of £109,000.

Owners of detached houses fared worst in Northumberland in December. Prices dropped by 2.3% to an average of £282,835.

But over the last year, prices rose by 11.6%.

Owners of semi-detached homes saw their value down by 2.1% on the month – to an average of £158,512 – but 9.6% up annually.

The price of terraced homes fell by 1.7% in December – but were up by 10.4% annually to an average of £131,849.

The value of flats were also down 1.7% on the month – to an average of £89,161 – but up 6.3% annually.

First-time buyers in Northumberland spent an average of £136,000 on their property – £12,000 more than a year ago, and £15,000 more than in November 2015.

On average, buyers paid 18.9% more than the average price in the North East – £141,000 - in December for a property in Northumberland.

Across the North East, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £252,000.

The most expensive properties in the North East were in North Tyneside – £176,000 on average.