House prices in Carmarthenshire dropped in December, falling more than the average across Wales, new figures show.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the average Carmarthenshire house price in the year to December was £197,925 – a 0.7% decrease on November.

It was below the average across Wales, where prices decreased by 0.5%.

The drop in Carmarthenshire does not reverse the longer-term trend in the area, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 5.7% over the last year.

It means the area ranked fifth among Wales’s 22 local authorities for annual growth, with the average price in Carmarthenshire rising by £11,000 over the past year.

The highest annual growth in Wales was in Blaenau Gwent, where property prices increased on average by 9.2%.

At the other end of the scale, properties in Gwynedd lost 5.2% of their value.

Across the UK, average house prices in December fell slightly on the month before, but have accelerated by 4.6% over the past year.

Separate figures from the ONS show the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rose to 3% in January, up from 2.5% the previous month.

The jump was stronger than analysts had predicted, with a 2.8% increase forecast.

Matt Smith, a mortgage expert at Rightmove, said: "This morning’s unexpectedly high inflation figure is likely to have a knock-on effect on some of the early momentum we were starting to see in mortgage rates coming down, as the financial markets react today.

"We’d hoped for a sustained period of gradual falls, but with inflation increasing by 0.2 percentage points more than the market expected, we can expect to see a change in that direction.

"Any news which deviates from market forecasts, is likely to cause rates to rise or fall. Over the coming days, the sub-4% rates that had only just started to come out may be the first to go as mortgage lenders re-look at what they can offer home movers."

Jonathan Hopper, chief executive of Garrington Property Finders, said: "The number of homes for sale is so abundant in some areas – even in highly sought-after, prime postcodes – that buyers find themselves firmly in the driving seat and able to drive a hard bargain on price.

"This is likely to keep future price rises modest in much of southern England, and anyone planning to put their home on the market there in the coming months will need to price it competitively to attract buyers."