Shropshire housing market cools down despite national increase

The county saw a second consecutive monthly decline in the average selling price of a property, with the 0.46 per cent drop adding to a 0.08 per cent fall in March to leave the typical property worth £201,833.

But prices remain higher than at the same point last year, with 4.68 per cent annual growth in part because last April saw a far larger slump in prices.

Prices in Telford & Wrekin grew by 0.24 per cent in the same month, to leave them 5.11 per cent up on the year at £156,933.

House price growth generally bounced back across the UK in April, the figures from the Land Registry and Office for National Statistics show.

Across the UK, the average house price stood at £220,000 in April, following a 1.6 per cent month-on-month increase.

The main contribution to the increase in UK house prices came from England, where house prices increased by 5.7 per cent over the year to April, with the average price now £237,000.

Commenting on the figures, Richard Snook, a senior economist at PwC, said: "These figures go against the recent trend of a Brexit-related slowdown that we predicted last year but remain consistent with our guidance of two to five per cent growth in 2017 as a whole."

Wales saw house prices increase by 4.2 per cent over the previous 12 months to reach £148,000.

But Powys has fallen behind the Wales-wide rate of growth, after a 1.15 per cent improvement in April left the county 3.38 per cent ahead for the year at £170,122.

Across Britain, a first-time buyer faces paying five per cent more for a home than a year ago, with the average price paid by the sector now at £185,266.

House price growth in London has accelerated for the first time in nearly a year, following a significant cooldown in the market in recent months, the official index showed.

The report said: "This is the first time in 11 months that the rate of price growth in London has increased."