Peterborough house prices increased in February

The boost contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 3.4 per cent annual growth.

The average Peterborough house price in February was £202,692, Land Registry figures show – a 2.1 per cent increase on January.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across the East of England, where prices decreased 0.9 per cent, and Peterborough outperformed the UK as a whole, where prices did not change.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Peterborough rose by £6,700 – putting the area 43rd among the East of England’s 50 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Tendring, where property prices increased on average by 11.6 per cent, to £239,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Stevenage gained 0.4 per cent in value, giving an average price of £280,000.

Owners of flats saw the biggest improvement in property prices in Peterborough in February – they increased 2.9 per cent, to £108,434 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 0.6 per cent.

Among other types of property:

Detached: up 1.9 per cent monthly; up 4.2 per cent annually; £324,473 average. Semi-detached: up 2.1 per cent monthly; up 3.4 per cent annually; £205,050 average. Terraced: up two per cent monthly; up four per cent annually; £162,656 average.

First-time buyers in Peterborough spent an average of £170,400 on their property – £5,100 more than a year ago, and £33,000 more than in January 2016.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £228,900 on average in February – 34.3 per cent more than first-time buyers.

Buyers paid 33.8 per cent less than the average price in the East of England (£306,000) in February for a property in Peterborough. Across the East of England, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £250,000.

The most expensive properties in the East of England were in St Albans – £555,000 on average, and 2.7 times as much as in Peterborough. St Albans properties cost 2.9 times as much as homes in Great Yarmouth (£188,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average February sale price of £1.2 million could buy 13 properties in Hyndburn (average £92,000).