House prices remained steady in Somerset in August, new figures show.

The lack of movement maintains the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 0.4% annual decline.

The average Somerset house price in August was £300,601, Land Registry figures show – largely unchanged from July.

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

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Somerset fell by £1,300 – putting the area 16th 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 Somerset spent an average of £241,700 on their property – £1,800 less than a year ago, but £51,400 more than in August 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £337,900 on average in August – 39.8% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of flats saw the biggest fall in property prices in Somerset in August – they dropped 0.8% in price, to £146,209 on average. Over the last year, prices dropped by 2.3%.

Among other types of property:

  • Detached: up 0.1% monthly; up 0.4% annually; £472,995 average
  • Semi-detached: up 0.2% monthly; up 0.3% annually; £300,446 average
  • Terraced: down 0.1% monthly; down 1.3% annually; £240,123 average

How do property prices in Somerset compare?

Buyers paid 8.5% less than the average price in the South West (£328,000) in August for a property in Somerset. 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 Somerset. 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

  • Somerset: £300,601
  • The South West: £328,413
  • UK: £291,044

Annual change to August

  • Somerset: -0.4%
  • The South West: -1.1%
  • UK: +0.2%

Highest and lowest annual growth in the South West

  • South Hams: +4.6%
  • West Devon: -4%