Across Somerset, the housing market is showing mixed signals as of early 2024, with average house prices experiencing a slight decline while rental costs have surged, according to the latest data updated on 17 April 2024.

As of February 2024, the average house price in Somerset stood at £292,000, marking a modest decrease of 1.1% from February 2023.

This contrasts with the overall stability in house prices across the South West region during the same period.

On the rental front, the average monthly rent in Somerset saw a significant increase, rising to £898 in March 2024. This represents a sharp 9.3% increase from the £822 average rent recorded in March 2023, and is notably higher than the average increase of 6.9% seen across the South West.

For first-time homebuyers in Somerset, the market remained stable with the average price paid by first-time buyers holding steady at £237,000 in February 2024, unchanged from the previous year.

Meanwhile, homes purchased with a mortgage in Somerset had an average price of £294,000 in February 2024, closely aligning with prices from the year before.

Tim Bannister, property expert at Rightmove, said falling interest rates had helped encourage more owners of large homes to sell. The Bank of England now looks set to start easing interest rates later this year in the year, which is expected to benefit the property market.

Bannister said: "For a long period during the pandemic and into last year, there was very little availability of larger homes. With not much choice of property to move to, this deterred some large-home sellers from coming to market.

"Last year, movers had to adjust from historic low mortgage rates to much higher levels. Whilst some larger-home sellers may have built up more equity over time, others looking to take out a larger mortgage on a more expensive home would have been particularly impacted."