House prices dropped slightly in Shropshire in April, new figures show.
But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 13.2 per cent annual growth.
The average Shropshire house price in April was £240,137, Land Registry figures show – a 0.7 per cent decrease on March.
Over the month, the picture was similar to that across the West Midlands, where prices decreased 0.9 per cent, and Shropshire outperformed the 1.9 per cent drop for the UK as a whole.
Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Shropshire rose by £28,000 – putting the area fifth among the West Midlands’s 34 local authorities for annual growth.
Owners of flats fared worst in Shropshire in April – they dropped 0.9 per cent in price, to £127,135 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 10.1 per cent.
First-time buyers in Shropshire spent an average of £193,000 on their property – £22,000 more than a year ago, and £37,000 more than in April 2016.
By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £269,000 on average in April – 39.2 per cent more than first-time buyers.
Buyers paid 10.7 per cent more than the average price in the West Midlands (£217,000) in April for a property in Shropshire.
The most expensive properties in the West Midlands were in Stratford-on-Avon – £352,000 on average, and 1.5 times as much as in Shropshire.