House prices in Harrogate dropped by 2% during May

File photo dated 14/10/14 of a sold and for sale signs. A gradual slowdown in the housing market in Scotland is likely as the cost-of-living crisis bites, a report has warned. House prices in Scotland continue to edge upwards but indicators are softening slightly, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) latest survey. Issue date: Thursday May 12, 2022.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 7.4% over the last year – though still the lowest in Yorkshire and the Humber.

The average Harrogate house price in May was £326,123, Land Registry figures show – a 2% decrease on April.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across Yorkshire and the Humber, where prices increased 2.1%, and Harrogate was lower than the 1.2% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Harrogate rose by £23,000 – putting the area bottom among Yorkshire and the Humber’s 21 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

However, buyers paid more for properties in Harrogate than anywhere else in Yorkshire and the Humber in May. The average price paid would buy 2.5 homes in Hull (£133,000), at the other end of the scale.

The highest annual growth in the region was in Craven, where property prices increased on average by 18.2%, to £275,000.

An imbalance between supply and demand for properties has remained the primary reason behind climbing house prices across the UK throughout the pandemic.

But activity is starting to slow, with soaring inflation putting household budgets under pressure.

Sarah Coles, senior personal finance analyst at financial advice company Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The average house price hit another record high in May, and rose faster than any time since the peak in June last year.

“However, we’re starting to see small changes in the market, which are likely to mean weaker growth in the coming months, especially if interest rates are hiked in August.”

First-time buyers in Harrogate spent an average of £256,000 on their property – £16,000 more than a year ago, and £35,000 more than in May 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £363,000 on average in May – 41.7% more than first-time buyers.

Owners of flats saw the biggest fall in property prices in Harrogate in May – they dropped 2.4% in price, to £184,465 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 2.3%.