Average house prices in Scotland continue to rise

The latest publication of the monthly UK House Price Index (UK HPI) shows that the average price of a property in Scotland in November 2017 was £145,992 – an increase of 3.6 per cent on November in the previous year and an increase of 1.1 per cent when compared to the previous month.

This compares to a UK average of £226,071, which was an increase of 5.1 per cent on November in the previous year and an increase of 0.1 per cent when compared to the previous month.

The volume of residential sales in Scotland in September 2017 was 9,323 – a decrease of 2.5 per cent on September 2016 and a decrease of 0.5 per cent on the previous month. This compares with annual decreases in sales volumes of 14.8 per cent in England, 6.6 per cent in Wales and 8.6 per cent in Northern Ireland (Quarter 3 - 2017).

Registers of Scotland business development and information director Kenny Crawford said: “Average prices in Scotland continued their upward trend in November with an increase of 3.6 per cent when compared to November 2016. Average prices have been steadily increasing each month since March 2016, when compared with the same month of the previous year.

“Residential sales volumes decreased in September. The annual decrease of 2.5 per cent when compared with September 2016 in Scotland is in the context of greater decreases across the rest of the UK. The cumulative volume of sales for Scotland for the financial year to date – from April to September 2017 – was 54,893. This is an increase of 9.1 per cent on the equivalent year to date position for September 2016.”

The top five local authorities in terms of September sales volumes were Edinburgh (1,124 sales), Glasgow (1,067 sales), Fife (706 sales), South Lanarkshire (595 sales) and North Lanarkshire (451 sales).

Average price increases were recorded in three quarters (24) of all local authorities in November 2017, when comparing prices with the previous year. The biggest price increases were in West Dunbartonshire, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh, where the average prices increased by 10.3 per cent to £106,216, 8.1 per cent to £217,106 and 8.0 per cent to £246,508 respectively. The biggest decreases were recorded in Aberdeen City and Argyll and Bute where prices fell by 4.2 per cent to £163,489 and 3.9 per cent to £127,373 respectively.

Across Scotland, most property types showed an increase in average price in November 2017 when compared with the same month in the previous year. Flat or maisonette properties showed the biggest increase, rising by 7.2 per cent to £108,881. The average price of detached properties showed a decrease of 3.6 per cent to £235,744.

The average price in November 2017 for a property purchased by a first time buyer was £121,574 – an increase of 6.5 per cent compared to the same month in the previous year. The average price for a property purchased by a former owner occupier was £169,670 – an increase of 0.7 per cent on the previous year.

The average price for a cash sale was £135,641 – an increase of four per cent on the previous year – while the average price for property purchased with a mortgage was £150,733 – an increase of 3.5 per cent on the previous year.