House prices dropped by 1.7% – more than the average for Wales – in Carmarthenshire in February, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 14.8% annual growth – the highest in Wales.

The average Carmarthenshire house price in February was £213,785, Land Registry figures show – a 1.7% decrease on January.

Over the month, the picture was worse than that across Wales, where prices decreased 0.6%, and Carmarthenshire underperformed compared to the 1% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Carmarthenshire rose by £28,000 – putting the area top among Wales’s 22 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

At the other end of the scale, properties in Gwynedd lost 1.3% of their value, giving an average price of £201,000.

Winners and Losers

Owners of terraced houses fared worst in Carmarthenshire in February – they dropped 1.9% in price, to £152,466 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 14.6%.

Among other types of property:

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Carmarthenshire spent an average of £188,000 on their property – £24,000 more than a year ago, and £66,000 more than in February 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £241,000 on average in February – 27.9% more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Carmarthenshire compare?

Buyers paid 0.7% less than the average price in Wales (£215,000) in February for a property in Carmarthenshire. Across Wales, property prices are roughly the same as those across the UK, where the average cost £288,000.

The most expensive properties in Wales were in Monmouthshire – £365,000 on average, and 1.7 times as much as more than in Carmarthenshire. Monmouthshire properties cost 2.7 times as much as homes in Blaenau Gwent (£137,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in 160.

Factfile

Average property price in February

Annual growth to February

Best and worst annual growth in Wales