Local house prices still rising as the pandemic bit

Local house prices rose more than the regional average

The boost contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve six per cent annual growth.

The average Wigan house price in March was £139,771, Land Registry figures show – a 1.9 per cent increase on February.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across the North West, where prices increased 0.2% per cent, and Wigan outperformed the 0.2 per cent drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Wigan rose by £7,900 – putting the area ninth among the North West’s 39 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Rossendale, where properties increased on average by 18.3 per cent, to £158,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Fylde dropped 8.7 in value, giving an average price of £172,000.

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices in Wigan in March – they increased 2.3 per cent, to £230,743 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 6.1 per cent.

Among other types of property semi-detached properties were up two per cent monthly and 6.4 annually to a£141,197 average; terraced home values rose 1.6 per cent monthly and 5.7 annually to £106,660 average; and flats prices increased 1.6 per cent monthly and rose 3.7 annually to a £78,961 average.

First-time buyers in Wigan spent an average of £123,800 on their property – £7,000 more than a year ago, and £23,900 more than in March 2015.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £155,800 on average in March – 25.8 per cent more than first-time buyers.

Buyers paid 15.9 per cent less than the average price in the North West (£166,000) in March for a property in Wigan. Across the North West, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £232,000.

The most expensive properties in the North West were in Trafford – £293,000 on average, and 2.1 times as much as in Wigan. Trafford properties cost 3.4 times as much as homes in Burnley (£86,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average March sale price of £1.4m could buy 16 properties in Burnley.