HOUSE prices remained steady in Somerset in July, new figures show, but who saw the biggest - and lowest - growth?

The lack of movement maintains the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 10.9% annual growth.

The average Somerset house price in July was £263,808, Land Registry figures show – largely unchanged from June.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across the South West, where prices decreased 5.8%, and Somerset outperformed the 3.7% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Somerset rose by £26,000 – putting the area 10th among the South West’s 32 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in North Devon, where property prices increased on average by 22.5%, to £291,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Cheltenham gained 3.5% in value, giving an average price of £288,000.

Winners and Losers

Owners of flats saw the biggest improvement in property prices in Somerset in July – they increased 0.7%, to £137,795 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 7.4%.

Among other types of property:

Detached: down 0.4% monthly; up 11.4% annually; £405,361 average

Semi-detached: up 0.3% monthly; up 11.1% annually; £261,071 average

Terraced: up 0.1% monthly; up 11.4% annually; £213,313 average

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Somerset spent an average of £214,000 on their property – £21,000 more than a year ago, and £42,000 more than in July 2016.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £295,000 on average in July – 37.7% more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Somerset compare?

Buyers paid 4.8% less than the average price in the South West (£277,000) in July for a property in Somerset. Across the South West, property prices are higher than those across the UK, where the average cost £256,000.

The most expensive properties in the South West were in the Cotswolds – £406,000 on average, and 1.5 times as much as in Somerset. The Cotswolds properties cost 2.1 times as much as homes in Plymouth (£193,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average July sale price of £1.3 million could buy 13 properties in Burnley (average £101,000).

Factfile

Average property price in July

Somerset: £263,808

The South West: £277,178

UK: £255,535

Annual growth to July

Somerset: +10.9%

The South West: +5.2%

UK: +8%

Best and worst annual growth in the South West

North Devon: +22.5%

Cheltenham: +3.5%