Here's how much the average house in Bedford now costs

House prices dropped in Bedford in June, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 1.2% annual growth.

The average Bedford house price in June was £288,515, Land Registry figures show – a 1.2% decrease on May.

Over the month, the picture was worse than that across the East of England, where prices increased 2%, and Bedford underperformed compared to the 0.7% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Bedford rose by £3,300 – putting the area 25th among the East of England’s 45 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Brentwood, where properties increased on average by 6.6%, to £447,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in North Norfolk dropped 3.7% in value, giving an average price of £245,000.

Winners and Losers

Owners of flats fared worst in Bedford in June – they dropped 1.7% in price, to £158,917 on average​. Over the last year, prices dropped by 2.7%.

Among other types of property:

Detached: down 1.4% monthly; up 1.9% annually; £470,415.5725 average

Semi-detached: down 1.0% monthly; up 2.2% annually; £288,228 average

Terraced: down 1.0% monthly; up 1.4% annually; £225,198 average.

First-time buyers in Bedford spent an average of £​234,000 on their property – ​£2,100 more than a year ago, ​and ​£50,300 more than in June 2015.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £​327,200 on average in June​ – 39.8% more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Bedford compare?

Buyers paid 2.5% less than the average price in the East of England (£296,000) in June for a property in Bedford.

Across the East of England, property prices are high compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £238,000.

The most expensive properties in the East of England were in St Albans – £520,000 on average, and 1.8 times as much as in Bedford. St Albans properties cost 3.1 times as much as homes in Great Yarmouth (£166,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average June sale price of £1.4 million could buy 15 properties in Burnley (average £92,000).

Factfile

Average property price in June

- Bedford: £288,515

- The East of England: £295,856

- UK: £237,834

Annual growth to June

- Bedford: +1.2%

- The East of England: +2.6%

- UK: +3.4%

Best and worst annual growth in the East of England

- Brentwood: +6.6%

- North Norfolk: -3.7%