House prices dropped by 1.7 per cent in Cheshire East – including Knutsford – in April, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 9.6 per cent annual growth.

The average Cheshire East house price in April was £252,137, Land Registry figures show – a 1.7 per cent decrease on March.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across the north west, where prices decreased 2.6 per cent, and Cheshire East outperformed the 1.9 per cent drop for the UK as a whole.

In the last year, the average sale price of property in Cheshire East rose by £22,000 – putting the area 30th among the north west’s 43 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Eden, where property prices increased on average by 24.1 per cent, to £230,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Carlisle gained 3.2 per cent in value, giving an average price of £142,000.

Owners of flats fared worst in Cheshire East in April – they dropped 1.9 per cent in price, to £137,146 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 6.9 per cent.

First-time buyers in Cheshire East spent an average of £196,000 on their property – £17,000 more than a year ago, and £35,000 more than in April 2016.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £294,000 on average in April – 49.6 per cent more than first-time buyers.

Buyers paid 37.6 per cent more than the average price in the north west (£183,000) in April for a property in Cheshire East.

Across the north west, property prices are roughly the same as those across the UK, where the average cost £251,000.