House prices increased in Gwynedd in December, new figures show.

​The ​boost ​contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area ​achieve 7.8% annual growth​.

The average Gwynedd house price in December was £167,598, Land Registry figures show​ – a 1.8% increase on November.

Over the month, the picture was ​better than that across Wales, where prices ​decreased 2.0%​, and Gwynedd outperformed the 0.3% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Gwynedd ​​rose by £12,000 – putting the ​area fifth among Wales’s 22 local authorities for annual growth.

​The best annual growth in the region was in Blaenau Gwent, where properties increased on average by 14.2%, to £102,000. ​At the other end of the scale, properties in Ceredigion dropped 2.1% in value, giving an average price of £184,000.

Winners and Losers

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices in Gwynedd in December – they increased 2.1%, to £246,154 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 8.2%.

Among other types of property:

Semi-detached: up 1.9% monthly; up 8.7% annually; £170,698 average

Terraced: up 1.5% monthly; up 7.4% annually; £128,623 average

Flats: up 1% monthly; up 5.5% annually; £106,265 average​

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Gwynedd spent an average of £​147,000 on their property – ​£11,000 more than a year ago, ​and ​£24,000 more than in December 2014.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £​191,000 on average in December​ – 30.5% more than first-time buyers.​

How do property prices in Gwynedd compare?​

Buyers paid 1.1% more than the average price in Wales (£166,000) in December for a property in Gwynedd. Across Wales, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £235,000.

The most expensive properties in Wales were in Monmouthshire – £280,000 on average, and 1.7 times as much as in Gwynedd. Monmouthshire properties cost 2.8 times as much as homes in Blaenau Gwent (£102,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average December sale price of £1.3 million could buy 14 properties in Burnley (average £92,000).

Factfile

Average property price in December

Gwynedd: £167,598

Wales: £165,735

UK: £234,742

Annual growth to December

Gwynedd: +7.8%

Wales: +2.2%

UK: +2.2%

Best and worst annual growth in Wales

Blaenau Gwent: +14.2%

Ceredigion: -2.1%