House prices have been up and down like a yo-yo since the global coronavirus crisis but south Essex has seen some interesting trends, according to latest figures.

Southend’s housing market in particular, has been on fire following a longer-term trend which has seen property prices in the area achieve an annual growth of almost 6 per cent.

The average Southend house price in June was £296,155, Land Registry figures show, which is a 1.7 per cent increase from May.

Mike Gray, director at Dedman and Gray, based in Thorpe Bay, said: “It is interesting and pleasing to see Southend continuing to perform well in comparison with the whole of the UK and this a trend that seems to have been the case for some time now.

“There are many signs of the Southend area being a target town to move to from a much wider audience than in years gone by.

“With regards to the increase of 1.7 per cent this has certainly been the case in Southend and in some particular hotspots it has probably been recorded slightly higher.

“May was one of the earlier months recorded after lockdown and since then the residential property market in the borough has further gone from strength-to-strength.”

Over the month, the picture was similar to that across the east of England, where prices increased by 2 per cent.

Nationally, prices increased by 0.7 per cent.

Over the last year, the average sale price of properties in Southend rose by £16,000 – putting the area third among the east of England’s 45 local authorities for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in Brentwood, where properties increased on average by 6.6 per cent, to £447,000.

At the other end of the scale, properties in North Norfolk dropped 3.7 per cent in value, giving an average price of £245,000.

Contrasting to Southend, house prices in Castle Point slightly dropped in June.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area remain level.

The average Castle Point house price in June was £304,415, Land Registry figures show – a 0.3 per cent decrease on May.

Over the month, the picture was worse than that across the east of England, where prices increased 2 per cent, and Castle Point underperformed compared to the 0.7 per cent rise for the UK as a whole.

Colin Maclean, director at Amos Estates, based in Hadleigh, said: “House price data is particularly difficult to assess at the moment because we have seen three very different markets since the turn of the year.

“The first quarter continued as per the end of 2019 with levels pretty steady, obviously the lockdown period saw the housing market grind to a sudden halt, and since a return to the ‘new normal’ we are experiencing a stamp duty holiday-inspired housing market boom.

“I envisage that with such an uncertain economic period ahead we will continue to see a high volume of sales into 2021 but perhaps not the price hikes we have previously seen during busy market periods.”

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Castle Point rose by £25 – putting the area 33rd among the east of England’s 45 local authorities for annual growth.

In Basildon, house prices were also on the up in June, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 5.2 per cent annual growth.

The average Basildon house price in June was £317,160, Land Registry figures show – a 1.3 per cent increase on May.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea, where the average June sale price of £1.4 million could buy 15 properties in Burnley (average £92,000).