Warrington house prices up by 1.7% in February

The latest data from the Office of National Statistics shows that the average property in the area sold for £189,230 - significantly lower than the UK average of £225,047.

Across the north west, property prices have risen by 4.8% in the last year, to £158,152.

The region outperformed the UK as whole, which saw the average property value increase by 4.4%.

The data comes from the House Price Index, which the ONS compiles using house sale information from the Land Registry, and the equivalent bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The average homeowner in Warrington will have seen their property jump in value by around £43,000 in the last five years.

The figures also showed that buyers who made their first step onto the property ladder in Warrington in February spent an average of £156,656 - around £36,000 more than it would have cost them five years ago.

Addressing the national picture, Lawrence Bowles, the associate director of the research team at the estate agents Savills said: "Generally, we are seeing somewhat slower growth than we have been previously.

"Despite much stronger consumer confidence in the spending power of the pound, last month we saw the 12th consecutive month of lower buyer enquiries, and seventh of sales enquiries.

"The ongoing Brexit negotiations form a big part of that, but it is also related to the signs from the Bank of England that we are likely to see the base rates increase, and the knock-on effect that will have on the mortgage rates."

Between January and December last year, the most recent 12 months for which sales volume data is available, 3,167 homes were sold in Warrington, 9% fewer than in the previous year.

The highest house prices in the country in February were found in Kensington and Chelsea, where properties sold for an average of £1,409,606 - 18 times the cost of a home in Burnley, where the average home cost just £79,208.

By Joseph Hook, data reporter