Luton house prices increased slightly in April

But the rise does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area suffer a 2.5 per cent annual decline.

The average Luton house price in April was £270,071. Land Registry figures show a 0.4 per cent increase on March.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across the East of England, where prices decreased 0.7 per cent, and Luton was above the 0.3 per cent rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Luton fell by £6,900 – putting the area 31st among the East of England’s 45 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in East Cambridgeshire, where property prices increased on average by 7.8 per cent, to £351,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Watford lost 8.6 per cent of their value, giving an average price of £376,000.

First-time buyers in Luton spent an average of £238,100 on their property – £6,100 less than a year ago, but £29,800 more than in April 2019.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £308,200 on average in April – 29.5 per cent more than first-time buyers.

Owners of semi-detached houses saw the biggest rise in property prices in Luton in April – they increased 0.6 per cent, to £318,582 on average. Over the last year, prices dropped by 1.7 per cent.

How do property prices in Luton compare? Buyers paid 19.5 per cent less than the average price in the East of England (£335,000) in April for a property in Luton. Across the East of England, property prices are higher than those across the UK, where the average cost is £281,000.

The most expensive properties in the East of England were in St Albans – £578,000 on average, and 2.1 times the price as in Luton. St Albans properties cost 2.7 times the price as homes in Great Yarmouth (£218,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

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