HOUSE prices in Ceredigion declined slightly, by 0.9 per cent, in February, despite witnessing a 6.3 per cent rise over the last 12 months.

The latest data from the Office of National Statistics shows that the average property in the area sold for £181,652 – significantly lower than the UK average of £225,047.

Across Wales, property prices have risen by 4.8 per cent in the last year, to £152,891.

The region outperformed the UK as whole, which saw the average property value increase by 4.4 per cent.

The data comes from the House Price Index, which the ONS compiles using house sale information from the Land Registry, and the equivalent bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The average homeowner in Ceredigion will have seen their property jump in value by around £28,000 in the last five years.

The figures also showed that buyers who made their first step onto the property ladder in Ceredigion in February spent an average of £165,434 – around £25,000 more than it would have cost them five years ago.

Between January and December last year, the most recent 12 months for which sales volume data is available, 1,008 homes were sold in Ceredigion, 19 per cent more than in the previous year.

See this week’s south papers for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition tomorrow