House prices in Ceredigion and Gwynedd increased by more than the average for Wales in May, new figures show.

In Ceredigion, sale prices were up by 2.5 per cent and in Gwynedd 1.8 per cent.

But the rise does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer 0.3 per cent and 0.8 per cent annual declines respectively.

The average Ceredigion house price in May was £247,368, Land Registry figures show – a 2.5% increase on April.

In Gwynedd the average price was £203,955 - an increase of 1.8 per cent on the previous month.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across Wales, where prices increased 0.6 per cent, and Ceredigion and Gwynedd were above the UK as a whole, where prices did not change.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Ceredigion fell by £760 – putting the area 19th among Wales’s 22 local authorities with price data for annual growth. For Gwynedd, a decrease of £1,600 puts it 20th.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Monmouthshire, where property prices increased on average by 7.4 per cent, to £367,000.

At the other end of the scale, properties in Pembrokeshire lost 1.3 per cent of their value, giving an average price of £233,000.

First-time buyers in Ceredigion spent an average of £224,140 on their property – £940 less than a year ago, but £59,850 more than in May 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £273,100 on average in May – 21.8 per cent more than first-time buyers.

In Gwynedd, first-time homeowners had to fork out an average of £178,000 - £1,600 less than a year ago, but £48,500 more than in 2018.

Former owner-occupiers paid £234,000 on average in May – 31.4 per cent more than first-time buyers.