AN affluent market town has topped a national list of property ‘cold spots’, according to analysis by a property website.

Zoopla has concluded while house prices in the North-East have bucked the national trend by falling since the start of the year, Richmond is the country's "worst performing town".

Properties there, it said, had fallen by an average of 5.34 per cent, or £15,085 since the start of the year to an average of £267,539.

The typical British home was valued at £304,469 in July - an increase of £3,039 since the start of 2017.

In the North-East, the average property value has fallen by £1,430 since January, with the average house price in the region being £185,820 in July.

Yorkshire and the Humber homes saw an average increase of £1,849.

The website's findings have left property experts in the market town - which is described on the town's website as being "of unique character and beauty which has changed little through the centuries", boasting a variety of shops, many pubs, hotels and restaurants, and close to "the most stunning scenery" - perplexed.

Laura Kidd, director of Love Property, which sells Richmond properties from its Catterick Garrison office – and is opening a new office in Richmond at the end of this month – said she did not recognise a downturn in the town’s property market.

She said: “As a company we certainly don’t recognise that trend at all.

“We have been achieving very close to the asking prices, about 97 per cent of our properties have sold at the asking price this year and some of them are even going over it, for example in June we sold a property at £10,000 over the asking price.

“We have sold whatever the price bracket is really, whether it’s from £60,000 to half a million pounds it has been the same situation and I would say the market is really strong here at the moment.” Ms Kidd added the company would not be opening an office in Richmond if the market was not performing well.

Nationally, Zoopla’s analysis shows that Belper in Derbyshire tops the list of property value hotspots, with prices rising by 7.43 per cent since January.

Todmorden in West Yorkshire is third on the list, but the rest of the top ten in terms of house price rises is dominated by locations in the South-East, such as Suffolk, Kent and East Sussex.

Lawrence Hall, spokesman for Zoopla, said while the rate of growth nationally had slowed to a more modest rate, the figures do not reveal the the stark downturn in house values that has been predicted.

He added: “Whilst this slowdown might not be what home owners want to hear, a slowdown does present a possible opportunity for those looking to get on the ladder by the end of the year.”