Peterborough house prices increased more than East of England average in April

The boost contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 4.9 per cent annual growth.

The average Peterborough house price in April was £206,329, Land Registry figures show – a one per cent increase on March.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across the East of England where prices increased 0.3 per cent, and Peterborough outperformed the 1.9 per cent drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Peterborough rose by £9,700 – putting the area 41st among the East of England’s 50 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Tendring, Essex, where property prices increased on average by 16.5 per cent, to £254,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Welwyn Hatfield gained two per cent in value, giving an average price of £404,000.

Owners of semi-detached houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices in Peterborough in April – they increased 1.2 per cent, to £209,130 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 5.1 per cent.

Among other types of property, detached were up 0.8 per cent monthly; up 5.5 per cent annually; to £329,892 on average. Terraced homes were up 0.9 per cent monthly; up 5.3 per cent annually; with a £165,475 average price. Flats wer up one per cent monthly; up 2.7 per cent annually; to an average of £110,299.

First-time buyers in Peterborough spent an average of £173,800 on their property – £7,900 more than a year ago, and £34,100 more than in April 2016.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £232,600 on average in April – a third (33.9%) more than first-time buyers.

Buyers paid 34.3 per cent less than the average price in the East of England (£314,000) in April for a property in Peterborough. Across the East of England, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost is £251,000.

The most expensive properties in the East of England were in St Albans – £543,000 on average, and 2.6 times as much as in Peterborough. St Albans properties cost 2.9 times as much as homes in Great Yarmouth (£186,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average April sale price of £1.1 million could buy 11 properties in East Ayrshire (average £105,000).