HOUSE prices increased in Swindon in May, new figures show.

​The ​boost ​contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area ​achieve 3 per cent annual growth​.

The average Swindon house price in May was £221,547, Land Registry figures show​ – a 1.5 per cent increase on April.

Over the month, the picture was ​better than that across the south west, where prices ​decreased 0.4 per cent​, and Swindon outperformed the 0.3 per cent rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Swindon ​​rose by £6,500 – putting the ​area 16th among the south west’s 29 local authorities for annual growth.

​The best annual growth in the region was in Stroud, where properties increased on average by 10.3%, to £300,000. ​At the other end of the scale, properties in West Devon dropped 5.3% in value, giving an average price of £248,000.

Winners and losers

Owners of semi-detached houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices in Swindon in May – they increased 1.8 per cent, to £244,766 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 3.9 per cent.

Among other types of property:

Detached: up 1.7 per cent monthly; up 4.2 per cent annually; £386,624 average

Terraced: up 1.2 per cent monthly; up 2.4 per cent annually; £191,266 average

Flats: up 1.6 per cent monthly; up 1.1 per cent annually; £140,121 average

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Swindon spent an average of £​190,100 on their property – ​£5,000 more than a year ago, ​and ​£41,800 more than in May 2015.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £​255,100 on average in May​ – 34.2 per cent more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Swindon compare?

Buyers paid 15.1 per cent less than the average price in the South West (£261,000) in May for a property in Swindon. Across the South West, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £236,000.

The most expensive properties in the South West were in the Cotswolds – £411,000 on average, and 1.9 times as much as in Swindon. The Cotswolds properties cost 2.3 times as much as homes in Plymouth (£175,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average May sale price of £1.4 million could buy 16 properties in Burnley (average £88,000).

Factfile

Average property price in May

Swindon: £221,547

The South West: £261,006

UK: £235,673

Annual growth to May

Swindon: +3.0 per cent

The South West: +3.4 per cent

UK: +2.9 per cent

Best and worst annual growth in the south west

Stroud: +10.3 per cent

West Devon: -5.3 per cent