House prices dropped in Denbighshire in February, new figures show.

​But the ​drop ​does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area ​remain level​.

The average Denbighshire house price in February was £154,350.69, Land Registry figures show​ – a 3.6% decrease on January.

Over the month, the picture was ​worse than that across Wales, where prices ​increased 1.17%​, and Denbighshire underperformed compared to the 0.62% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Denbighshire ​​remained level – putting the ​area 18th among Wales’s 22 local authorities for annual growth.

​The best annual growth in the region was in Merthyr Tydfil, where properties increased on average by 11.51%, to £114,000. ​At the other end of the scale, properties in Powys dropped 4.9% in value, giving an average price of £178,000.

Winners and Losers

Owners of semi-detached houses fared worst in Denbighshire in February – they dropped 3.8% in price, to £138,486.36 on average​. But over the last year, prices rose by 0.48%.

Among other types of property:

Detached: down 3.6% monthly; down 0.3% annually; £194,365.91 average

Terraced: down 3.5% monthly; up 0.45% annually; £109,508.78 average

Flats: down 2.9% monthly; down 1.7% annually; £81,100.84 average​

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Denbighshire spent an average of £​137,660.85 on their property – ​£2.88 more than a year ago, ​and ​£15,755.12 more than in February 2015.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £​170,387.13 on average in February​ – 23.8% more than first-time buyers.​

How do property prices in Denbighshire compare?

Buyers paid 6.1% less than the average price in Wales (£164,000) in February for a property in Denbighshire. Across Wales, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £230,000.

The most expensive properties in Wales were in Monmouthshire – £267,000 on average, and 1.7 times as much as in Denbighshire. Monmouthshire properties cost 2.8 times as much as homes in Blaenau Gwent (£94,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average February sale price of £1.3 million could buy 15 properties in Burnley (average £85,000).

Average property price in February

Denbighshire: £154,350.69

Wales: £164,434.73

UK: £230,331.55

Annual growth to February

Denbighshire: 0.0%

Wales: +3.4%

UK: +1.1%

Best and worst annual growth in Wales

Merthyr Tydfil: +11.5%

Powys: -4.9%