First time house buyers pay an average of £118K for home

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 16.7% annual growth.

The average Blackpool house price in March was £133,557, Land Registry figures show – a 0.1% decrease on February.

Over the month, the picture was worse than that across the North West, where prices increased 0.4%, and Blackpool underperformed compared to the 0.3% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Blackpool rose by £19,000 – putting the area fourth among the North West’s 39 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Hyndburn, where property prices increased on average by 22.6%, to £129,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Barrow gained just 3.4% in value, giving an average price of £138,000.

Winners and Losers

Owners of flats fared worst in Blackpool in March – they dropped 0.5% in price, to £80,569 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 12.2%.

Among other types of property:

Detached: up 0.1% monthly; up 20.4% annually; £229,908 average

Semi-detached: up 0.1% monthly; up 17% annually; £152,142 average

Terraced: down 0.3% monthly; up 16.3% annually; £113,050 average

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Blackpool spent an average of £118,000 on their property – £17,000 more than a year ago, and £27,000 more than in March 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £145,000 on average in March – 22% more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Blackpool compare?

Buyers paid 34.9% less than the average price in the North West (£205,000) in March for a property in Blackpool. Across the North West, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £278,000.

The most expensive properties in the North West were in Trafford – £351,000 on average, and 2.6 times as much as more than in Blackpool. Trafford properties cost 3.2 times as much as homes in Burnley (£111,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea.