Peterborough house prices increased in May

House prices increased by 1.7 per cent in Peterborough in May. Photo: PA

The boost contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 8.6% annual growth.

The average Peterborough house price in May was £213,379, Land Registry figures show – a 1.7% increase on April.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across the East of England, where prices decreased 1%, and Peterborough outperformed the 0.9% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Peterborough rose by £17,000 – putting the area 18th among the East of England’s 50 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Great Yarmouth, where property prices increased on average by 15.6%, to £197,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in East Cambridgeshire gained 1% in value, giving an average price of £285,000.

Owners of flats saw the biggest improvement in property prices in Peterborough in May – they increased 2.1%, to £114,547 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 6.4%.

Among other types of property:

Detached: up 1.7% monthly; up 9.2% annually; £341,311 average. Semi-detached: up 1.7% monthly; up 8.5% annually; £215,970 average. Terraced: up 1.7% monthly; up 9% annually; £170,836 average.

First-time buyers in Peterborough spent an average of £180,000 on their property – £14,000 more than a year ago, and £38,000 more than in May 2016.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £241,000 on average in May – 33.9% more than first-time buyers.

Buyers paid 31.2% less than the average price in the East of England (£310,000) in May for a property in Peterborough. Across the East of England, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £255,000.

The most expensive properties in the East of England were in Three Rivers – £547,000 on average, and 2.6 times as much as in Peterborough. Three Rivers properties cost 2.8 times as much as homes in Great Yarmouth (£197,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average May sale price of £1.2 million could buy 12 properties in Burnley (average £100,000).