Bedford house prices dropped slightly in June

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 4.6% over the last year.

The average Bedford house price in June was £346,149, Land Registry figures show – a 0.5% decrease on May.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the East of England, where prices increased 0.1%, and Bedford was lower than the 0.5% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Bedford rose by £15,000 – putting the area 10th among the East of England’s 45 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Broadland, where property prices increased on average by 8.6%, to £332,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Ipswich lost 7.1% of their value, giving an average price of £218,000.

FIRST STEPS ON THE LADDER

First-time buyers in Bedford spent an average of £281,000 on their property – £13,000 more than a year ago, and £49,000 more than in June 2019.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £392,000 on average in June – 39.4% more than first-time buyers.

PROPERTY TYPES

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest fall in property prices in Bedford in June – they dropped 0.8% in price, to £559,815 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 4.7%.

Among other types of property:

Semi-detached: down 0.5% monthly; up 5.5% annually; £349,794 average

Terraced: down 0.1% monthly; up 4.8% annually; £273,747 average

Flats: down 0.5% monthly; up 2.2% annually; £184,026 average

HOW DO PROPERTY PRICES IN BEDFORD COMPARE?

Buyers paid 2% more than the average price in the East of England (£339,000) in June for a property in Bedford. Across the East of England, property prices are higher than those across the UK, where the average cost is £288,000.

The most expensive properties in the East of England were in St Albans – £576,000 on average, and 1.7 times the price as in Bedford. St Albans properties cost 2.7 times the price as homes in Great Yarmouth (£212,000 average), at the other end of the scale.