House prices dropped slightly, by 0.5%, in East Hampshire 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 3.5% over the last year.

The average East Hampshire house price in December was £460,148, Land Registry figures show – a 0.5% decrease on November.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the South East, where prices increased 0.4%, and East Hampshire was lower than the 0.4% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in East Hampshire rose by £16,000 – putting the area 63rd among the South East’s 64 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Maidstone, where property prices increased on average by 18.6%, to £372,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Tandridge gained 3.3% in value, giving an average price of £530,000.

The average UK house price was £294,000 in December 2022, which was £26,000 higher than 12 months earlier.

It meant prices increased by 9.8% annually in December, slowing from 10.6% annual growth in November, according to the Office for National Statistics.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in East Hampshire spent an average of £333,000 on their property – £13,000 more than a year ago, and £63,000 more than in December 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £533,000 on average in December – 60.3% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest fall in property prices East Hampshire in December – they dropped 0.6% in price, to £724,274 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 3.2%.

Among other types of property:

How do property prices in East Hampshire compare?

Buyers paid 13.8% more than the average price in the South East (£404,000) in December for a property in East Hampshire. Across the South East, property prices are higher than those across the UK, where the average cost £294,000.

The most expensive properties in the South East were in Elmbridge – £721,000 on average, and 1.6 times as much as more than in East Hampshire. Elmbridge properties cost 2.8 times as much as homes in Gosport (£259,000 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

Annual growth to December

Highest and lowest annual growth in the South East