House prices increased slightly in Cornwall in March, new figures show.

​The ​boost ​contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area ​achieve 3.5 per cent annual growth​.

The average Cornwall house price in March was £238,854, Land Registry figures show​ – a 0.5 per cent increase on February.

Over the month, the picture was ​less good than that across the south west, where prices ​increased two per cent​, and Cornwall outperformed the 0.2 per cent drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the past year, the average sale price of property in Cornwall ​​rose by £8,100 – putting the ​area eighth among the south west’s 36 local authorities for annual growth.

​The best annual growth in the region was in Torbay, where properties increased on average by 12.6 per cent, to £214,000. ​At the other end of the scale, properties in West Devon dropped 6.8 per cent in value, giving an average price of £242,000.

Winners and losers

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices in Cornwall in March – they increased 0.7 per cent, to £346,336 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 3.3 per cent.

Among other types of property:

Terraced: up 0.3 per cent monthly; up 3.9 per cent annually; £189,363 average

Flats: up 0.2 per cent monthly; up 1.6 per cent annually; £140,057 average

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Cornwall spent an average of £​196,800 on their property – ​£6,600 more than a year ago, ​and ​£30,000 more than in March 2015.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £​268,300 on average in March​ – 36.3 per cent more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in Cornwall compare?

​Buyers paid 9.3 per cent less than the average price in the south west (£263,000) in March for a property in Cornwall. Across the south west, property prices are higher than those across the UK, where the average cost £232,000.

The most expensive properties in the south west were in the Cotswolds – £386,000 on average, and 1.6 times as much as in Cornwall. The Cotswolds properties cost 2.2 times as much as homes in Plymouth (£179,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average March sale price of £1.4 million could buy 16 properties in Burnley (average £86,000).

Average property price in March

Cornwall: £238,854

The south west: £263,360

UK: £231,855

Annual growth to March

Cornwall: +3.5 per cent

The South West: +4.1 per cent

UK: +2.1 per cent

Best and worst annual growth in the south west

Torbay: +12.6 per cent

West Devon: -6.8 per cent