House prices dropped by 1.8% – more than the average for the South West – in the Forest of Dean in November, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 14.2% over the last year.

The average the Forest of Dean house price in November was £319,401, Land Registry figures show – a 1.8% decrease on October.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the South West, where prices decreased 0.3%, and the Forest of Dean was lower than the 0.3% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in the Forest of Dean rose by £40,000 – putting the area ninth among the South West’s 29 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Stroud, where property prices increased on average by 17.8%, to £368,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Cotswold gained 8% in value, giving an average price of £510,000.

The average UK house price edged down to £295,000 in November 2022, from the previous month's record high of £296,000.

Property prices increased by 10.3% in the year to November, slowing from 12.4% in October.

Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, which represents estate agents, said: "In November, our agents reported a market that was on the cusp of seeing purchasing power handed back to buyers which was a trend we hadn’t seen in months."

And Roger Evans, director of home finance distribution at Gatehouse Bank, said: “The property market is slowly becoming more favourable for buyers in some areas as rates stabilise a little following the turbulence of 2022.”

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in the Forest of Dean spent an average of £252,000 on their property – £32,000 more than a year ago, and £79,000 more than in November 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £355,000 on average in November – 41% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest fall in property prices the Forest of Dean in November – they dropped 1.9% in price, to £425,942 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 14.3%.

Among other types of property:

How do property prices in the Forest of Dean compare?

Buyers paid 5.3% less than the average price in the South West (£337,000) in November for a property in the Forest of Dean. Across the South West, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £295,000.

The most expensive properties in the South West were in Cotswold – £510,000 on average, and 1.6 times as much as more than in the Forest of Dean. Cotswold properties cost 2.2 times as much as homes in Plymouth (£229,000 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 November

Annual growth to November

Highest and lowest annual growth in the South West