House prices dropped by 3.2% – more than the average for Wales – in Carmarthenshire in April, new figures show.

The drop contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 5.4% annual decline.

The average Carmarthenshire house price in April was £194,023. Land Registry figures show a 3.2% decrease on March.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across Wales, where prices decreased 2.1%, and Carmarthenshire was lower than the 0.3% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Carmarthenshire fell by £11,000 – putting the area 21st among Wales’s 22 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Gwynedd, where property prices increased on average by 6.4%, to £209,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Merthyr Tydfil lost 11.6% of their value, giving an average price of £137,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Carmarthenshire spent an average of £171,800 on their property – £8,800 less than a year ago, but £42,200 more than in April 2019.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £216,700 on average in April – 26.1% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest fall in property prices in Carmarthenshire in April – they dropped 3.8% in price, to £259,187 on average. Over the last year, prices dropped by 6.6%.

Among other types of property:

How do property prices in Carmarthenshire compare?

Buyers paid 6.8% less than the average price in Wales (£208,000) in April for a property in Carmarthenshire. Across Wales, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost is £281,000.

The most expensive properties in Wales were in Monmouthshire – £350,000 on average, and 1.8 times the price as in Carmarthenshire. Monmouthshire properties cost 2.7 times the price as homes in Blaenau Gwent (£128,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea.

Factfile

Average property price in April

Annual change to April

Highest and lowest annual growth in Wales