House price drop is worst in south east

House prices dropped slightly – by 0.4 per cent – in Horsham in January, new figures show.

The drop contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 0.8 per cent annual decline – the worst in the south east.

The average Horsham house price in January was £375,233, Land Registry figures show – a 0.4 per cent decrease on December.

Over the month, the picture was worse than that across the south east, where prices increased 0.1 per cent, and Horsham outperformed the 0.5 per cent drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Horsham remained level – putting the area bottom among the south east’s 70 local authorities growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in the Isle of Wight, where property prices increased on average by 14.7 per cent, to £256,000.

Owners of flats fared worst in Horsham in January – they dropped 1.5 per cent to £188,566 on average. Over the last year, prices dropped by 5.2 per cent.

Among other types of property: Detached: down 0.3 per cent monthly; up 0.6 per cent annually; £617,379 average.

Semi-detached: up 0.1 per cent monthly; down 0.1 per cent annually; £380,860 average.

Terraced: down 0.2 per cent monthly; up 0.2 per cent annually; £304,854 average.

First-time buyers in Horsham spent an average of £274,500 on their property – £6,000 less than a year ago, and £17,400 more than in December 2015.

By comparison, for annual former owner-occupiers paid £447,500 on average in January – 63.0 per cent more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Horsham compare? Buyers paid 9.6 per cent more than the average price in the south east (£342,000) in January for a property in Horsham.

Across the south east, property prices are high compared to those across the UK, where the average cost is £249,000.

The most expensive properties in the South East were in Elmbridge – £644,000 on average, and 1.7 times as much as in Horsham.

Elmbridge properties cost three times as much as homes in Southampton (£213,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average January sale price of £1.3 million could buy 14 properties in Blaenau Gwent (average £93,000).