Mid Sussex house prices dropped slightly in December

House prices dropped slightly, by 0.1%, in Mid Sussex in December, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 0.6% over the last year.

The average Mid Sussex house price in December was £462,299, Land Registry figures show – a 0.1% decrease on November.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the South East, where prices decreased 1.9%, but Mid Sussex was lower than the 0.1% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Mid Sussex rose by £2,800 – putting the area 12th among the South East’s 64 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Winchester, where property prices increased on average by 7.9%, to £538,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Gosport lost 11.5% of their value, giving an average price of £230,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Mid Sussex spent an average of £345,100 on their property – £1,900 more than a year ago, and £65,400 more than in December 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £540,600 on average in December – 56.6% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest fall in property prices in Mid Sussex in December – they dropped 0.6% in price, to £781,849 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 1%.

Among other types of property:

How do property prices in Mid Sussex compare?

Buyers paid 22.6% more than the average price in the South East (£377,000) in December for a property in Mid Sussex. Across the South East, property prices are high compared to those across the UK, where the average cost is £285,000.

The most expensive properties in the South East were in Elmbridge – £730,000 on average, and 1.6 times the price as in Mid Sussex. Elmbridge properties cost 3.2 times the price as homes in Gosport (£230,000 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 December

• Mid Sussex: £462,299
• The South East:£377,162
• UK: £284,691

Annual change to December

• Mid Sussex: +0.6%
• The South East: -4.6%
• UK: -1.4%

Highest and lowest annual growth in the South East

• Winchester: +7.9%
• Gosport: -11.5%