House prices increased by 1.9% – more than the average for the South East – in Woking in January, new figures show.

The rise contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 0.6% over the last year.

The average Woking house price in January was £477,065, Land Registry figures show – a 1.9% increase on December.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the South East, where prices increased 0.6%, and Woking was above the 0.5% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Woking rose by £2,800 – putting the area fifth among the South East’s 64 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Winchester, where property prices increased on average by 7.3%, to £505,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Gosport lost 14.1% of their value, giving an average price of £229,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Woking spent an average of £353,300 on their property – £4,500 more than a year ago, and £40,700 more than in January 2019.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £581,600 on average in January – 64.6% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of flats saw the biggest rise in property prices in Woking in January – they increased 2.6%, to £280,364 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 2.8%.

Among other types of property:

How do property prices in Woking compare?

Buyers paid 27.8% more than the average price in the South East (£373,000) in January for a property in Woking. Across the South East, property prices are high compared to those across the UK, where the average cost is £282,000.

The most expensive properties in the South East were in Elmbridge – £676,000 on average, and 1.4 times the price as in Woking. Elmbridge properties cost 2.9 times the price as homes in Gosport (£229,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, at £1.2 million.

Factfile

Average property price in January

Annual change to January

Highest and lowest annual growth in the South East