House prices increased slightly, by 0.2 per cent, across the Cumberland council area in January, new figures show.

The rise contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 6.3 per cent over the last year.

The average Cumberland house price in January was £175,631, Land Registry figures show – a 0.2% increase on December.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the North West, where prices decreased 0.6 per cent, but Cumberland was lower than the 0.5 per cent rise for the UK as a whole.

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Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Cumberland rose by £10,000 – putting the area third among the North West’s 35 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

First-time buyers in Cumberland spent an average of £150,000 on their property – £8,800 more than a year ago, and £34,300 more than in January 2019.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £200,800 on average in January – 33.9 per cent more than first-time buyers.