Average house prices in Monmouthshire have risen by more than 11 per cent over the past year, making the area the most expensive in Wales to buy property in.

The figures have been released by the Principality Building Society’s Wales House Price Index for Q2 2022, which monitors average house prices across Wales.

Monmouthshire saw its average house price rise to £368,621 in the second quarter of 2022, an 11.4 per cent increase on 2021 and a 0.2 per cent dip from Q1 2022.

This makes Monmouthshire the region with the highest average house prices, more than £20,000 higher than the next highest region, £347,724 in the Vale of Glamorgan.

In Wales overall, house prices rose by an average of 11.5 per cent over the year to £240,635, the highest it has ever been and 3.1 per cent higher than last quarter.

Shaun Middleton, Head of Distribution at Principality Building Society, said: “Against the backdrop of significant cost of living pressures, with food, fuel and energy prices continuing to spiral, higher interest rates anticipated from the Bank of England, and the collapse in confidence levels across companies and households, there is a growing expectation that the wider economy will enter recession over the coming quarters.

“Across the UK, these cost-of living pressures have begun feeding through into lenders’ affordability calculations, whilst higher mortgage rates might affect the ability and willingness of households to borrow.

“Such changes appear modest for now, but they are cumulative in nature, and their eventual impact will be influenced by the ultimate extent of rate increases, the resilience of the jobs market and the ability of households to increase income.

“The housing market in Wales starts from a strong position, as prices have been steadily rising post-Covid restrictions but is not immune to these macro-economic challenges, and the likelihood is that housing demand and property price inflation will ease over the coming quarters.”