House prices dropped by 2.5 per cent in Ceredigion and 0.5 per cent in Powys in July, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 12.4 per cent annual growth.

Meanwhile, in Gwynedd prices increased slightly, by 0.8 per cent, contributing to the 12.5 per cent annual growth in the county.

The average house price in July in Ceredigion was £247,781, in Powys £239,700 and in Gwynedd £211,247, Land Registry figures show.

Across Wales prices increased 2.8 per cent and there was a 2 per cent rise for the UK as a whole over the month.

Across the UK, the average UK house price leapt by 15.5 per cent in the year to July, marking the biggest increase in 19 years.

But the increase in annual inflation was mainly because of “a base effect” from the falls in prices seen this time last year, as a result of changes in the stamp duty holiday, the ONS said.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Ceredigion rose by £27,000 – putting the area 17th among Wales’s 22 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

In both Powys and Gwynedd there was an increase of £24,000 on average, putting the two counties 20th and 16^th respectively.

The best annual growth in Wales was in Blaenau Gwent, where property prices increased on average by 20 per cent, to £132,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Cardiff gained just 8.3 per cent in value, giving an average price of £256,000.

Buyers in Ceredigion and Powys paid 12.7 and 9 per cent respectively more than the average price in Wales (£220,000) in July for a property. However, in Gwynedd buyers paid 4 per cent less than the Welsh average.