House prices increased by 2.4% in East Hampshire in December – more than the average for the South East.

The boost contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 16.2% annual growth.

The average East Hampshire house price in December was £448,308, Land Registry figures show – a 2.4% increase on November.

Over the month, the picture was better than that across the South East, where prices increased 1.6%, and East Hampshire outperformed the 0.8% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in East Hampshire rose by £63,000 – putting the area fifth among the South East’s 64 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Worthing, where property prices increased on average by 18.7%, to £340,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Oxford gained just 2% in value, giving an average price of £446,000.

Winners and Losers

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices in East Hampshire in December – they increased 3%, to £710,844 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 18.8%.

Among other types of property:

Semi-detached: up 2.6% monthly; up 18.8% annually; £439,045 averageTerraced: up 2.1% monthly; up 13.6% annually; £340,954 averageFlats: up 1% monthly; up 8.3% annually; £210,558 average

First-time buyers in East Hampshire spent an average of £322,000 on their property – £42,000 more than a year ago, and £62,000 more than in December 2016.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £522,000 on average in December – 62.1% more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in East Hampshire compare?

Buyers paid 17.9% more than the average price in the South East (£380,000) in December for a property in East Hampshire. Across the South East, property prices are higher than those across the UK, where the average cost £275,000.

The most expensive properties in the South East were in Elmbridge – £707,000 on average, and 1.6 times as much as more than in East Hampshire. Elmbridge properties cost 3.1 times as much as homes in Portsmouth (£227,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

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