Here's how much first time buyers are spending to buy a home in Milton Keynes

The boost contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 3.7% annual growth.

The average Milton Keynes house price in January was £267,299, Land Registry figures show – a 0.1% increase on December.

Over the month, the picture was similar to that across the South East, where prices increased 0.1%, and Milton Keynes outperformed the 0.5% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Milton Keynes rose by £9,600 – putting the area 51st among the South East’s 70 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in the Isle of Wight, where property prices increased on average by 14.7%, to £256,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Horsham lost 0.8% of their value, giving an average price of £375,000.

Winners and Losers

Owners of semi-detached houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices in Milton Keynes in January – they increased 0.5%, to £269,020 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 4.2%.

Among other types of property:

Detached: up 0.1% monthly; up 5.1% annually; £450,854 average

Terraced: up 0.2% monthly; up 4.5% annually; £225,007 average

Flats: down 0.8% monthly; down 0.1% annually; £147,347 average

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Milton Keynes spent an average of £216,600 on their property – £6,500 more than a year ago, and £23,300 more than in December 2015.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £311,000 on average in January – 43.5% more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Milton Keynes compare?

Buyers paid 21.9% less than the average price in the South East (£342,000) in January for a property in Milton Keynes. Across the South East, property prices are higher than those across the UK, where the average cost £249,000.

The most expensive properties in the South East were in Elmbridge – £644,000 on average, and 2.4 times as much as in Milton Keynes. Elmbridge properties cost three times as much as homes in Southampton (£213,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average January sale price of £1.3 million could buy 14 properties in Blaenau Gwent (average £93,000).

Factfile

Average property price in January

Milton Keynes: £267,299

The South East: £342,420

UK: £249,309

Annual growth to January

Milton Keynes: +3.7%

The South East: +6.4%

UK: +7.5%

Best and worst annual growth in the South East

The Isle of Wight: +14.7%

Horsham: -0.8%