House prices dropped slightly, by 0.1%, in Swindon in May, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 5.5% annual growth.

The average Swindon house price in May was £228,696, Land Registry figures show – a 0.1% decrease on April.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across the South West, where prices decreased 0.6%, but Swindon underperformed compared to the 0.9% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Swindon rose by £12,000 – putting the area 27th among the South West’s 32 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in West Devon, where property prices increased on average by 25.1%, to £306,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Stroud lost 4.2% of their value, giving an average price of £278,000.

Winners and Losers

Owners of terraced houses fared worst in Swindon in May – they dropped 0.2% in price, to £199,828 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 6.2%.

Among other types of property

- Detached: up 0.1% monthly; up 6.2% annually; £400,064 average

- Semi-detached: down 0.1% monthly; up 5.4% annually; £251,617 average

- Flats: down 0.1% monthly; up 2.8% annually; £140,598 average

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Swindon spent an average of £196,000 on their property – £9,800 more than a year ago, and £24,600 more than in May 2016.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £263,800 on average in May – 34.6% more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Swindon compare?

Buyers paid 17.6% less than the average price in the South West (£278,000) in May for a property in Swindon. Across the South West, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £255,000.

The most expensive properties in the South West were in the Cotswolds – £443,000 on average, and 1.9 times as much as in Swindon. The Cotswolds properties cost 2.3 times as much as homes in Plymouth (£196,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average May sale price of £1.2 million could buy 12 properties in Burnley (average £100,000).