House prices in Swindon are rising faster than in other parts of the south west.

The latest available Land Registry figures show that the average price for a property in the town in February was £261,948 – 0.8 per cent more than in January.

Over the month, the picture was similar to that across the wider region, where prices increased 0.5 per cent and Swindon was above the 0.4 per cent rise for the UK as a whole.

But the increase does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 2.9 per cent annual decline.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Swindon fell by £7,900 – putting the area 17th among the south west’s 26 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Stroud, where property prices increased on average by 9.8 per cent, to £352,000, while at the other end of the scale, properties in Torridge lost 8.4 per cent of their value for an average price of £288,000.

First-time buyers in Swindon spent an average of £225,300 on their property – £7,100 less than a year ago, but £39,100 more than in February 2019.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £300,900 on average in February – 33.6 per cent more than first-time buyers.

Owners of semi-detached houses saw the biggest rise in property prices in Swindon in February – up 0.9 per cent to £290,079 on average, but over the last year, prices dropped by 2.3 per cent.

Detached house prices were up 0.8 per cent monthly but down 1.7 per cent annually, reaching an average cost of £454,272.

Terraced homes were 0.7 more expensive compared month to month but down 4.2 per cent year on year, currently £229,092 each on average.

Flats and apartments cost £161,093 on average, which is 0.9 per cent up from the month before but 2.7 per cent down from February 2023.

Buyers paid 17.3% per cent less than the average price in the south west (£317,000) in February for a property in Swindon.

The most expensive properties in the south west were in Cotswold – £500,000 on average, and 1.9 times the price as in Swindon.

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