House prices dropped by 1.8% – more than the average for the South West – in West Devon in September, new figures show.

The drop contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 7.8% annual decline – the worst in the South West.

The average West Devon house price in September was £308,128, Land Registry figures show – a 1.8% decrease on August.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the South West, where prices decreased 0.1%, and West Devon was lower than the 0.5% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in West Devon fell by £26,000 – putting the area bottom among the South West’s 26 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Bath and North East Somerset, where property prices increased on average by 3.8%, to £454,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in West Devon spent an average of £231,000 on their property – £20,000 less than a year ago, but £39,000 more than in September 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £348,000 on average in September – 50.6% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of flats saw the biggest fall in property prices in West Devon in September – they dropped 2.3% in price, to £141,964 on average. Over the last year, prices dropped by 7.7%.

Among other types of property:

How do property prices in West Devon compare?

Buyers paid 6.2% less than the average price in the South West (£329,000) in September for a property in West Devon. Across the South West, property prices are higher than those across the UK, where the average cost is £291,000.

The most expensive properties in the South West were in Cotswold – £503,000 on average, and 1.6 times the price as in West Devon. Cotswold properties cost 2.2 times the price as homes in Plymouth (£224,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea.

Factfile

Average property price in September

Annual change to September

Highest and lowest annual growth in the South West