New figures show property prices in Pembrokeshire drop

In May Pembrokeshire house prices dropped by half a percent new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 16.5 percent over the last year.

The average Pembrokeshire house price in May was £230,977, with Land Registry figures showing a 0.5 percent decrease on April.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across Wales, where prices increased by 0.9 percent, and Pembrokeshire was lower than the 1.2 percent rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Pembrokeshire rose by £33,000 – putting the area sixth among Wales’ 22 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The figures show that first-time buyers in Pembrokeshire spent an average of £208,000 on their property – £29,000 more than a year ago, and £60,000 more than in May 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £257,000 on average in May – 23.9 percent more than first-time buyers.

Owners of flats saw the biggest fall in property prices Pembrokeshire in May – they dropped 1 percent in price, to £112,798 on average. But over the last year, flat prices rose by 11.3 percent.

The price of detached properties were down 0.5 percent monthly but up 17.5 percent annually costing a £323,693 average.

Semi-detached properties were down 0.7 percent monthly but up 16.8 percent annually, costing an average of £204,016.

Terraced houses saw the smallest drop of 0.3 percent monthly but were up 15.8 percent annually, costing an average of £171,922.

Buyers paid 8.7 percent more than the average price in Wales (£212,000) in May for a property in Pembrokeshire.

The highest annual price growth in Wales was in the Vale of Glamorgan, where property prices increased on average by 24.8 percent, to £318,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Denbighshire gained 6.9 percent in value, giving an average price of £192,000.

An imbalance between supply and demand for properties has remained the primary reason behind climbing house prices across the UK throughout the pandemic.

But activity is starting to slow, with soaring inflation putting household budgets under pressure.

Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst at financial advice company Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The average house price hit another record high in May, and rose faster than any time since the peak in June last year.

"However, we’re starting to see small changes in the market, which are likely to mean weaker growth in the coming months, especially if interest rates are hiked in August."