Rother house prices dropped slightly in February

House prices dropped slightly, by 0.1%, in Rother in February, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 10.9% annual growth.

The average Rother house price in February was £387,936, Land Registry figures show – a 0.1% decrease on January.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across the South East, where prices decreased 1.2%, and Rother outperformed the 1% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Rother rose by £38,000 – putting the area fifth among the South East’s 64 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Maidstone, where property prices increased on average by 12.1%, to £367,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Oxford gained just 0.4% in value, giving an average price of £460,000.

Winners and Losers

Owners of terraced houses fared worst in Rother in February – they dropped 0.6% in price, to £315,830 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 11.6%.

Among other types of property:

• Detached: up 0.3% monthly; up 11.4% annually; £617,543 average
• Semi-detached: down 0.5% monthly; up 12.1% annually; £386,976 average
• Flats: down 0.4% monthly; up 8.2% annually; £204,845 average

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Rother spent an average of £302,000 on their property – £28,000 more than a year ago, and £79,000 more than in February 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £434,000 on average in February – 43.7% more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Rother compare?

Buyers paid 1.9% less than the average price in the South East (£396,000) in February for a property in Rother. Across the South East, property prices are roughly the same as those across the UK, where the average cost £288,000.

The most expensive properties in the South East were in Elmbridge – £721,000 on average, and 1.9 times as much as more than in Rother. Elmbridge properties cost 2.8 times as much as homes in Southampton (£255,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in 160.

Factfile

Average property price in February

• Rother: £387,936
• The South East:£395,571
• UK: £287,506

Annual growth to February

• Rother: +10.9%
• The South East: +5.8%
• UK: +5.5%

Best and worst annual growth in the South East

• Maidstone: +12.1%
• Oxford: +0.4%