Portsmouth house prices have dropped by more than the South East average according to latest figures

Prices dropped by 2.5 per cent, but the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 5.3 per cent over the last year.

The average Portsmouth house price in March was £253,417, Land Registry figures show – a 2.5 per cent decrease on February.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the South East, where prices decreased 0.4 per cent, and Portsmouth was lower than the 1.2 per cent drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Portsmouth rose by £13,000 – putting the area 38th among the South East’s 64 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Sevenoaks, where property prices increased on average by 11.5 per cent, to £544,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Oxford lost 0.9 per cent of their value, giving an average price of £466,000.

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First-time buyers in Portsmouth spent an average of £233,000 on their property – £11,000 more than a year ago, and £38,000 more than in March 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £280,000 on average in March – 20.2 per cent more than first-time buyers.

Owners of terraced houses saw the biggest fall in property prices Portsmouth in March – they dropped 2.9 per cent in price, to £274,018 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 5.5 per cent.

Detached houses were down 1.2 per cent monthly; up 6.8 per cent annually; with a £534,626 average.

Semi-detached properties were down 2.1 per cent monthly; up 5.9 per cent annually; with a £358,149 average.

And flats were down 2.3 per cent monthly; up 3.9 per cent annually; £175,760 average

Buyers paid 35.8 per cent less than the average price in the South East (£395,000) in March for a property in Portsmouth, where the average cost was £285,000.

The most expensive properties in the South East were in Elmbridge in Surrey – £719,000 on average, and 2.8 times as much as more than in Portsmouth.