HOUSE prices in Gwynedd have dropped according to latest data released by the Principality Building Society – with Ceredigion the fourth most expensive place to buy a home in Wales.

Gwynedd is one of only two counties in Wales to record an annual decline in house prices, with the average home currently costing £222,683, seeing an annual dip of 5.5 per cent.

Prices in Gwynedd have dropped 8.3 per cent in the last quarter, January to March.

Elsewhere, prices have risen annually, but the first quarter shows that house prices are cooling, with an almost universal drop in average prices.

The average price for a home in Ceredigion currently stands at £284,813 which is 8.6 per cent higher than it was the year before.

A 1.6 per cent drop has been recorded in the first quarter however.

Ceredigion is the fourth most expensive county to buy a home in Wales, according to the data, with the average home only costing more in Cardiff, Monmouthshire and Vale of Glamorgan.

Houses in Powys are on average 9.1 per cent dearer than they were last year, but have also dropped by 1.7 per cent in the last quarter, with the average home now costing £277,234.

Pembrokeshire has bucked the trend of quarterly drips, with prices increasing by 1.1 per cent between January and March.

The average home currently costs £260,081, 5 per cent more than it did last year.

Carmarthenshire homes are up 6.4 per cent annually, but saw a drop of 4.1 per cent in the first quarter, with the average home costing £225,938.

Across Wales, the average house price has fallen to £245,101 at the start of 2023 – the first drop since the Covid pandemic - down 1.6 per cent on last quarter’s record high of just over £249,000. The quarterly drop has meant that compared to the same period the previous year, the annual house price in Wales has risen by 5 per cent, half the rate of three months earlier and the lowest annual increase since 2020.

Shaun Middleton, head of distribution at Principality Building Society, said: “The picture across Wales in terms of Q1 price movements was quite varied, and we would expect this to continue. Although there have been suggestions of a major housing market correction, such gloomy views have softened in recent weeks, reflecting the slightly better than expected performance of the UK economy. There are some positives that the market is settling to its new level.”