Wigan house prices dropped by more than North West average in February

The fall contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 2.9 per cent annual decline.

The average Wigan house price in February was £182,328, Land Registry figures show – a 0.4 per cent decrease on January.

Over the month, the picture was similar to that across the North West, where prices decreased 0.2 per cent, and Wigan was lower than the 0.4 per cent rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Wigan fell by £5,400 – putting the area 32nd among the North West’s 35 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Rossendale, where property prices increased on average by 11.7 per cent, to £213,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Burnley lost 9.3 per cent of their value, giving an average price of £103,000.

First-time buyers in Wigan spent an average of £162,000 on their property – £5,000 less than a year ago, but £45,700 more than in February 2019.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £202,700 on average in February – 25.1 per cent more than first-time buyers.

Owners of flats saw the biggest fall in property prices in Wigan in February – they dropped 0.7 per cent in price, to £96,983 on average. Over the last year, prices dropped by 4.7 per cent.

Among other types of property:

Detached: up 0 per cent monthly; down 0.6 per cent annually; £301,341 average

Semi-detached: down 0.3 per cent monthly; down 2.4 per cent annually; £185,392 average

Terraced: down 0.7 per cent monthly; down 4.4 per cent annually; £139,994 average

Buyers paid 14.8 per cent less than the average price in the North West (£214,000) in February for a property in Wigan. Across the North West, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost is £281,000.

The most expensive properties in the North West were in Trafford – £354,000 on average, and 1.9 times the price as in Wigan.

Trafford properties cost 3.4 times the price as homes in Burnley (£103,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea.