House prices surge 5% in year for much of ● Demand: Estate agent Melfyn Williams North Wales

HOUSE prices have surged by up to £8,000 in parts of North Wales over the past year – but slumped by £9,000 in one county.

The latest Land Registry figures made good reading for homeowners in Conwy, Wrexham and Flintshire with price increases of around 5% over the past 12 months.

Anglesey and Denbighshire also fared reasonably well with average prices up around 1%.

But prices fell by more than 5% in Gwynedd, according to the House Price Index statistics, taking several thousand pounds off the average selling price over the year.

Melfyn Williams, from Williams and Goodwin estate agent and All Wales Auction, said: “I am not surprised that prices are rising, we have seen steady increases in prices on Anglesey where the market is going well.

“It is a real hotspot at the moment because there is a lot going on on the island.

“The demand is there and August was one of the busiest months all year which we hope will continue for the rest of 2016.”

He added: “Gwynedd has not performed as well as Anglesey over the past year so I am not surprised prices have not gone the same way as on the island.

“But I would not read too much into the 5% decrease as it can only take a couple of high-value sales to skew the figures.”

The average price of a property in Wales is now £144,828, a 4% increase on the same date last year.

Flintshire has the highest average prices in North Wales at £159,587, although this still remains below the county’s peak prices seen in 2007 prior to the credit crunch.

New build homes across Wales saw the biggest increases, up 13.1% to an average of £196,533.

The cost of the average first-time buyer home was up 4.1% to £125,245.

Across the UK the average price of a home is now £216,750, an increase of 8.3%.