House prices in Swindon crept up by 0.8 per cent in September, contributing to a 3.9 per cent rise over the past 12 months.

The latest data from the Office of National Statistics shows that the average property in the area sold for £220,473 – below the UK average of £232,554.

Across the South West, property prices have risen by 4.3 per cent in the last year, to £260,142. The region outperformed the UK as whole, which saw the average property value increase by 3.5 per cent.

The data comes from the House Price Index, which the ONS compiles using house sale information from the Land Registry, and the equivalent bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The average homeowner in Swindon will have seen their property jump in value by around £67,000 in the last five years.

The figures also showed that buyers who made their first step onto the property ladder in Swindon in September spent an average of £189,687 – around £57,000 more than it would have cost them five years ago.

Between August last year and July this year, the most recent 12 months for which sales volume data is available, 4,195 homes were sold in Swindon, eight per cent fewer than in the previous year.

Frances Clacy, research analyst at estate agents Savills, said a slowdown in growth compared to the previous year was caused by more stringent lending criteria.