Oxford house prices fall faster than average

The drop contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 4.8 per cent annual decline.

The average Oxford house price in October was £401,624, Land Registry figures show – a 3.8 per cent decrease on the same figure for September.

Read also: Oxfordshire parent looks to sue council over transgender schools policy

Over the month, the picture was worse than that across the South East, where prices decreased 0.8 per cent, and Oxford underperformed compared to the 0.7 per cent drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the past year, the average sale price of property in Oxford remained level – putting the area 64th among the South East’s 67 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in the Isle of Wight, where properties increased on average by 6.4 per cent, to £229,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in South Bucks dropped 11.3 per cent in value, giving an average price of £558,000.

Charlbury Road has long been one of the most expensive streets in Oxford.

Owners of flats in Oxford fared worst in October – they dropped 4.6 per cent in price to £267,568 on average.

Among other types of property in the city:

• Detached: down 3.1% monthly; down 3.9% annually; £801,833 average

• Semi-detached: down 3.2% monthly; down 3.9% annually; £501,876 average

• Terraced: down 3.9% monthly; down 4.2% annually; £393,895 average

First-time buyers in Oxford spent an average of £ 356,000 on their property – £19,000 less than a year ago, and £38,000 more than in October 2014.

Read also: General Election 'will give property market a positive bounce'

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £ 443,000 on average in October – 24.5 per cent more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Oxford compare?

Buyers paid 24.2 per cent more than the average price in the South East (£323,000) in October for a property in Oxford. Across the South East, property prices are high compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £233,000.

The most expensive properties in the South East were in the district of Elmbridge in Surrey – £605,000 on average, and 1.5 times as much as in Oxford.

Elmbridge properties cost 2.9 times as much as homes in Southampton (£207,000 average) which is at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average October sale price of £1.2 million could buy 14 properties in Burnley (average £87,000).

Factfile

Average property price in October

• Oxford: £401,624

• The South East: £323,438

• UK: £232,944

Annual growth to October

• Oxford: -4.8%

• The South East: -0.3%

• UK: +0.7%