House prices increased slightly, by 0.4%, in South Hams in January, new figures show.

The rise contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 11% over the last year – the highest in the South West.

The average South Hams house price in January was £432,480, Land Registry figures show – a 0.4% increase on December.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the South West, where prices increased 1.5%, and South Hams was lower than the 0.5% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in South Hams rose by £43,000 – putting the area top among the South West’s 26 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

At the other end of the scale, properties in Torridge lost 13% of their value, giving an average price of £286,000.

First-time buyers in South Hams spent an average of £345,000 on their property – £35,000 more than a year ago, and £92,000 more than in January 2019.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £482,000 on average in January – 39.5% more than first-time buyers.

Owners of semi-detached houses saw the biggest rise in property prices in South Hams in January – they increased 0.8%, to £427,511 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 13.6%.

Among other types of property:

Detached: up 0.2% monthly; up 10.7% annually; £642,179 average

Terraced: up 0.4% monthly; up 10.5% annually; £334,227 average

Flats: up 0.2% monthly; up 9.6% annually; £243,072 average

Buyers paid 36.5% more than the average price in the South West (£317,000) in January for a property in South Hams. Across the South West, property prices are higher than those across the UK, where the average cost is £282,000.

The most expensive properties in the South West were in Cotswold – £500,000 on average, and 1.2 times the price as in South Hams. Cotswold properties cost 2.3 times the price as homes in Plymouth (£221,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, at £1.2 million.

Average property price in January

Annual change to January

South Hams: +11%

The South West: -0.6%

UK: -0.6%