Mid Sussex house prices dropped slightly in September

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 11.4 per cent annual growth.

The average Mid Sussex house price in September was £415,832, Land Registry figures show – a 0.8 per cent decrease on August.

Over the month, the picture was worse than that across the South East, where prices increased 3 per cent, and Mid Sussex underperformed compared to the 2.5 per cent rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Mid Sussex rose by £42,000 – putting the area 19th among the South East’s 70 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Rother, where property prices increased on average by 21.2 per cent, to £359,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Runnymede lost 1.6 per cent of their value, giving an average price of £408,000.

Owners of terraced houses fared worst in Mid Sussex in September – they dropped 1.2 per cent in price, to £343,581 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 10.2 per cent.

Among other types of property:

Detached: down 0.8 per cent monthly; up 11.9 per cent annually; £689,115 average.

Semi-detached: down 0.6 per cent monthly; up 12.6 per cent annually; £442,336 average.

Flats: down 0.8 per cent monthly; up 9.8 per cent annually; £224,453 average.

First-time buyers in Mid Sussex spent an average of £313,000 on their property – £31,000 more than a year ago, and £36,000 more than in September 2016.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £483,000 on average in September – 54.2 per cent more than first-time buyers.

Buyers paid 12.1 per cent more than the average price in the South East (£371,000) in September for a property in Mid Sussex. Across the South East, property prices are high compared to those across the UK, where the average cost £270,000.

The most expensive properties in the South East were in Elmbridge – £664,000 on average, and 1.6 times as much as in Mid Sussex. Elmbridge properties cost 2.9 times as much as homes in Southampton (£230,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

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