HOUSE prices in Poole have risen by by 8.3 per cent in the past 12 months.

The latest data from the Office of National Statistics shows that the average property in the area sold for £317,561 – significantly higher than the UK average of £226,906.

Prices rise by a whopping 3.7 per cent in April alone.

Lawrence Bowles, associate director of the research team at estate agents Savills, said: "The key thing to note is that we are still seeing growth in house prices across the UK.

"In particular, house prices have gone up 3.9 per cent in the year to April – though it is slowing down. People are starting to get a bit more wary about Brexit; people are starting to sit on their hands as they wait to see how things turn out.

"The strongest growth regionally is finally shifting away from London, and moving to the South West."

In Christchurch house prices rose by 5.9 per cent in the past 12 months, and April saw a 3.1 per cent leap.

There the average property sold for £350,696.

In Bournemouth growth was slower, with a 3.6 per cent rise since June last year, and only a 0.2 per cent rise in April.

The average house price in Bournemouth was £243,121, still above the UK average.

Over the past five years, the average homeowner will have seen their property jump in value by around £105k in Christchurch, £98k in Poole and £57k in Bournemouth.

The figures also showed that buyers who made their first step onto the property ladder in Poole in April spent an average of £249,587 – around £77,000 more than it would have cost them five years ago.

The data comes from the House Price Index, which the ONS compiles using house sale information from the Land Registry.

Between January and December last year, the most recent 12 months for which sales volume data is available, 3,150 homes were sold in Poole, similar to the number in the previous year, and 1,024 homes were sold in Christchurch, a six per cent drop on last year.

In Bournemouth there was a nine per cent drop on the previous year to 3,710 homes.