St Helens house prices dropped slightly in June

General view of estate agents signs outside a block of flats in Basingstoke, Hampshire.

House prices dropped slightly, by 0.9%, in St Helens in June, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 1.9% over the last year.

The average St Helens house price in June was £179,032, Land Registry figures show – a 0.9% decrease on May.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the North West, where prices increased 1.2%, and St Helens was lower than the 0.7% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in St Helens rose by £3,400 – putting the area 29th among the North West’s 35 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Rossendale, where property prices increased on average by 9.2%, to £201,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Hyndburn lost 3.7% of their value, giving an average price of £118,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in St Helens spent an average of £160,300 on their property – £2,700 more than a year ago, and £46,400 more than in June 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £201,300 on average in June – 25.5% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest fall in property prices in St Helens in June – they dropped 1.3% in price, to £301,796 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 3.5%.

Among other types of property:

Semi-detached:

Terraced:

Flats:

How do property prices in St Helens compare?

Buyers paid 17% less than the average price in the North West (£216,000) in June for a property in St Helens. Across the North West, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost is £288,000.

The most expensive properties in the North West were in Trafford – £362,000 on average, and twice the price as in St Helens. Trafford properties cost 3.1 times the price as homes in Burnley (£117,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, with an average price of £1.3 million.

Factfile

Average property price in June

St Helens: £179,032
The North West:£215,631
UK: £287,546

Annual growth to June

St Helens: +1.9%
The North West: +3.5%
UK: +1.7%

Highest and lowest annual growth in the North West

Rossendale: +9.2%
Hyndburn: -3.7%