House prices increased slightly, by 0.5%, in Carmarthenshire in December, new figures show.

The rise contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 16% over the last year.

The average Carmarthenshire house price in December was £217,081, Land Registry figures show – a 0.5% increase on November.

Over the month, the picture was similar to that across Wales, where prices increased 0.7%, and Carmarthenshire was above the 0.4% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Carmarthenshire rose by £30,000 – putting the area fourth among Wales’s 22 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Blaenau Gwent, where property prices increased on average by 23.3%, to £143,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Conwy gained 2.5% in value, giving an average price of £211,000.

The average UK house price was £294,000 in December 2022, which was £26,000 higher than 12 months earlier.

It meant prices increased by 9.8% annually in December, slowing from 10.6% annual growth in November, according to the Office for National Statistics.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Carmarthenshire spent an average of £191,000 on their property – £27,000 more than a year ago, and £66,000 more than in December 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £244,000 on average in December – 27.2% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of semi-detached houses saw the biggest rise in property prices in Carmarthenshire in December – they increased 0.6%, to £191,598 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 16.7%.

Among other types of property:

How do property prices in Carmarthenshire compare?

Buyers paid 2.4% less than the average price in Wales (£222,000) in December for a property in Carmarthenshire. Across Wales, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £294,000.

The most expensive properties in Wales were in Monmouthshire – £361,000 on average, and 1.7 times as much as more than in Carmarthenshire. Monmouthshire properties cost 2.5 times as much as homes in Blaenau Gwent (£143,000 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 December

Annual growth to December

Highest and lowest annual growth in Wales