FIRST-TIME buyers in the North West are seeing a higher increase in house prices, compared to the rest of the country, however drops have been recorded in some areas.

At £144,453, the average asking price for a first-time buyer home in the north-west of England is 8.6 per cent higher than it was 12 months earlier - the biggest annual percentage increase in its study across Britain, Rightmove found.

According to the HM Land Registry, despite a rise in first-time buyer homes across the North West, for all home types, prices in Blackburn with Darwen have fallen by 3 per cent on 2019 is similar to the 2018 where homes prices were £145,305.

Properties in Blackburn with Darwen had an overall average price of £147,057 over the last year, with terraces properties selling for an average price of £96,456 accounting for most of the sales.

On average, properties in Burnley and Rossendale were both up 3 per cent on the previous year while homes in Pendle saw a 2 per cent rise in the same time period.

Meanwhile, prices for homes in Ribble Valley and Accrington have remained similar to the previous year.

Richard Powell, director at Ryder & Dutton, an estate agency covering Rossendale, Manchester and West Yorkshire, said: “The North West possibly has a greater stock of properties that are more easily accessible for first-time buyers – places such as Oldham, Rochdale, Bury and Blackburn – these big, former mill towns have lots of terraced properties around the £100,000 to £200,000 mark that are available to buy.

“And coupled with more Help to Buy schemes and new-build developments, it’s probably easier to become a first-time buyer in this part of the world than many other regions, which also helps to push prices up.

“We’ve also seen a reluctance from people in their first homes to move up the ladder because they haven’t had confidence in the market to do so. Over the past four years or so with Brexit and now Covid, we’re seeing a lot of pent-up supply as well as pent-up demand.”

Here are average asking prices for first-time buyer homes in January 2021, followed by January 2020, and the annual percentage change, according to Rightmove, which defined first-time homes as properties with two bedrooms or fewer:

– North West, £144,453, £133,011, 8.6 per cent

– Yorkshire and the Humber, £148,060, £136,617, 8.4 per cent

– West Midlands, £165,510, £154,723, 7 per cent

– East Midlands, £163,011, £154,169, 5.7 per cent

– North East, £112,150, £106,212, 5.6 per cent

– South West, £219,133, £210,335, 4.2 per cent

– Wales, £147,074, £141,233, 4.1 per cent

– Scotland, £121,507, £116,742, 4.1 per cent

– South East, £261,122, £255,800, 2.1 per cent

– East of England, £243,492, £238,645, 2 per cent

– London, £474,950, £481,542, minus 1.4 per cent