Ashfield house prices dropping slightly as figures reveal fall in final month of last quarter
House prices in Ashfield dropped slightly in December, new figures show.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the average Ashfield house price in the year to December was £190,849 – a 0.2 per cent decrease on November.
The picture was different to that across the East Midlands, where prices increased by 0.5 per cent.
The drop in Ashfield does not reverse the longer-term trend in the area, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 3.7 per cent over the last year.
It means the area ranked 19th among the East Midlands’s 35 local authorities for annual growth, with the average price in Ashfield rising by £6,700 over the past year.
Across the UK, average house prices in December fell slightly on the month before, but have accelerated by 4.6 per cent over the past year.
Separate figures from the ONS show the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rose to three per cent in January, up from 2.5 per cent the previous month.
The jump was stronger than analysts had predicted, with a 2.8 per cent increase forecast.
Matt Smith, a mortgage expert at Rightmove, said: "This unexpectedly high inflation figure is likely to have a knock-on effect on some of the early momentum we were starting to see in mortgage rates coming down, as the financial markets react today.
"We’d hoped for a sustained period of gradual falls, but with inflation increasing by 0.2 percentage points more than the market expected, we can expect to see a change in that direction.
"Any news which deviates from market forecasts, is likely to cause rates to rise or fall.
"Over the coming days, the sub-four per cent rates that had only just started to come out may be the first to go as mortgage lenders re-look at what they can offer home movers."
Jonathan Hopper, chief executive of Garrington Property Finders, said: "The number of homes for sale is so abundant in some areas – even in highly sought-after, prime postcodes – that buyers find themselves firmly in the driving seat and able to drive a hard bargain on price.”