Sandwell house prices dropped in March

House prices dropped by 1.6% in Sandwell in March, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 5.3% over the last year.

The average Sandwell house price in March was £197,961, Land Registry figures show – a 1.6% decrease on February.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across West Midlands, where prices decreased 4%, but Sandwell was lower than the 1.2% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Sandwell rose by £10,000 – putting the area 23rd among West Midlands’s 30 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Nuneaton and Bedworth, where property prices increased on average by 11.4%, to £243,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Newcastle-under-Lyme gained 2.6% in value, giving an average price of £189,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Sandwell spent an average of £180,500 on their property – £9,000 more than a year ago, and £51,100 more than in March 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £218,400 on average in March – 21% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of terraced houses saw the biggest fall in property prices Sandwell in March – they dropped 2% in price, to £177,469 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 5.4%.

Among other types of property:

• Detached: down 1.1% monthly; up 5.4% annually; £327,566 average
• Semi-detached: down 1.4% monthly; up 5.5% annually; £212,627 average
• Flats: down 1.7% monthly; up 3.2% annually; £108,178 average

How do property prices in Sandwell compare?

Buyers paid 19.2% less than the average price in West Midlands (£245,000) in March for a property in Sandwell. Across West Midlands, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £285,000.

The most expensive properties in West Midlands were in Stratford-on-Avon – £387,000 on average, and twice as much as more than in Sandwell. Stratford-on-Avon properties cost 2.7 times as much as homes in Stoke (£145,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in E09000020.

Factfile

Average property price in March

• Sandwell: £197,961
• West Midlands:£245,132
• UK: £285,009

Annual growth to March

• Sandwell: +5.3%
• West Midlands: +3.4%
• UK: +4.1%

Highest and lowest annual growth in West Midlands

• Nuneaton and Bedworth: +11.4%
• Newcastle-under-Lyme: +2.6%