Burnley house prices dropped slightly in March

​But the ​drop ​does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area ​achieve 4.9% annual growth​.

The average Burnley house price in March was £86,074, Land Registry figures show​ – a 0.1% decrease on February.

Over the month, the picture was ​similar to that across the North West, where prices ​increased 0.2%​, and Burnley outperformed the 0.2% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Burnley ​​rose by £4,000 – putting the ​area 11th among the North West’s 39 local authorities for annual growth.

​The best annual growth in the region was in Rossendale, where properties increased on average by 18.3%, to £158,000. ​At the other end of the scale, properties in Fylde dropped 8.7% in value, giving an average price of £172,000.

Owners of flats fared worst in Burnley in March – they dropped 0.5% in price, to £58,986 on average​. But over the last year, prices rose by 2.8%.

First-time buyers in Burnley spent an average of £​77,800 on their property – ​£3,600 more than a year ago, ​and ​£12,500 more than in March 2015.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £​96,200 on average in March​ – 23.6% more than first-time buyers.

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