House prices dropped slightly in Cornwall in January, new figures show.

​But the ​drop ​does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area ​achieve 2.1 per cent annual growth​.

The average Cornwall house price in January was £236,997, Land Registry figures show​ – a 0.8 per cent decrease on December.

Over the month, the picture was ​better than that across the south west, where prices ​decreased 1.8 per cent​, and Cornwall outperformed the 1.1 per cent drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the past year the average sale price of property in Cornwall ​​rose by £5,000 – putting the ​area 12th among the south west’s 36 local authorities for annual growth.

​The best annual growth in the region was in the Cotswolds, where properties increased on average by 6.4 per cent, to £397,000. ​At the other end of the scale, properties in Mid Devon dropped 4.8 per cent in value, giving an average price of £226,000.

Winners and losers

Owners of detached houses fared worst in Cornwall in January – they dropped 1.3 per cent in price, to £341,797 on average​. But over the last year, prices rose by 1.5 per cent.

Among other types of property:

Semi-detached: down 0.5 per cent monthly; up 3.3 per cent annually; £229,706 average

Terraced: down 0.3 per cent monthly; up three per cent annually; £188,900 average

Flats: down 1.1 per cent monthly; down 0.2 per cent annually; £138,800 average

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First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Cornwall spent an average of £​195,700 on their property – ​£4,400 more than a year ago, ​and ​£29,400 more than in January 2015.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £​265,800 on average in January​ – 35.8 per cent more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Cornwall compare?

Buyers paid 6.8 per cent less than the average price in the south west (£254,000) in January for a property in Cornwall. Across the south west, property prices are higher than those across the UK, where the average cost £231,000.

The most expensive properties in the south west were in the Cotswolds – £397,000 on average, and 1.7 times as much as in Cornwall. The Cotswolds properties cost 2.3 times as much as homes in Plymouth (£176,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average January sale price of £1.2 million could buy 14 properties in Burnley (average £86,000).

Factfile

Average property price in January

Cornwall: £236,997

The south west: £254,320

UK: £231,185

Annual growth to January

Cornwall: +2.1 per cent

The south west: -0.1 per cent

UK: +1.3 per cent

Best and worst annual growth in the south west

The Cotswolds: +6.4 per cent

Mid Devon: -4.8 per cent