HOUSE prices dropped slightly, by 0.6 per cent in Dudley 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 2.6 per cent over the last year.
The average Dudley house price in April was £232,967. Land Registry figures show a 0.6 per cent decrease on March.
Over the month, the picture was different to that across West Midlands, where prices increased 0.4 per cent, and Dudley was lower than the 0.3 per cent rise for the UK as a whole.
Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Dudley rose by £5,800 – putting the area ninth among West Midlands’s 30 local authorities with price data for annual growth.
The highest annual growth in the region was in East Staffordshire, where property prices increased on average by 8.3 per cent, to £241,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Wyre Forest lost 7.4 per cent of their value, giving an average price of £225,000.
First-time buyers in Dudley spent an average of £205,000 on their property – £5,400 more than a year ago, and £52,200 more than in April 2019.
By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £257,200 on average in April – 25.4 per cent more than first-time buyers.
Owners of detached houses saw the biggest fall in property prices in Dudley in April – they dropped 0.9 per cent in price, to £350,094 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 1.8 per cent.
Among other types of property:
Semi-detached: down 0.5 per cent monthly; up 3.2 per cent annually; £232,164 average
Terraced: down 0.8 per cent monthly; up 2.7 per cent annually; £193,153 average
Flats: down 0.5 per cent monthly; up 0.8 per cent annually; £126,965 average
Buyers paid 5.4 per cent less than the average price in West Midlands (£246,000) in April for a property in Dudley. Across West Midlands, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost is £281,000.
The most expensive properties in West Midlands were in Stratford-on-Avon – £369,000 on average, and 1.6 times the price as in Dudley. Stratford-on-Avon properties cost 2.6 times the price as homes in Stoke (£143,000 average), at the other end of the scale.
The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea.
