House prices dropped by 2.6 per cent in Powys in May, new figures show.

The drop contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 0.2 per cent annual decline.

The average Powys house price in May was £239,130, Land Registry figures show – a 2.6 per cent decrease on April.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across Wales, where prices increased 0.6 per cent, and Powys was lower than the UK as a whole, where prices did not change.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Powys fell by £460 – putting the area 18th among Wales’s 22 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Monmouthshire, where property prices increased on average by 7.4 per cent to £367,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Pembrokeshire lost 1.3 per cent of their value, giving an average price of £233,000.

First-time buyers in Powys spent an average of £208,900 on their property – £710 less than a year ago, but £51,280 more than in May 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £268,070 on average in May – 28.3 per cent more than first-time buyers.

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest fall in property prices in Powys in May – they dropped 2.8 per cent in price, to £322,593 on average. Over the last year, prices dropped by 0.1 per cent.