House price index shows four percent increase in average prices in Scotland

The latest publication of the UK House Price Index (UK HPI) shows that the average price of a property in Scotland in May 2016 was £141,142, an increase of 4.0 per cent on the previous year and an increase of 2.8 per cent when compared to the previous month. This compares to a UK average of £211,230, which was an increase of 8.1 per cent over the year, and an increase of 1.1 per cent when compared to the previous month.

RoS’ director of commercial services, Kenny Crawford, said: “The new UK HPI Scotland has been well received by our users so far. There have been queries about the differences in published average house prices when comparing the HPI with the Registers of Scotland quarterly statistics. These differences were expected and reflect the different methodologies used in these publications. We have published charts (https://www.ros.gov.uk/?a=46092) on our website to allow comparison between the two publications and to explain the key differences.”

The volume of residential sales in Scotland in March 2016 was 11,017, an increase of 45.4 per cent on the previous year. Changes in Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) that came into effect on 1 April 2016 for additional dwellings, such as second homes and buy-to-let properties, are likely to have contributed to this increase. Glasgow showed the biggest volume of sales in March with 1,579 sales.

The biggest price increase over the last year was in East Renfrewshire where the average price increased by seven per cent to £201,2824. The biggest decrease was in the City of Aberdeen, where prices fell by 9.2 per cent to £176,394.

The average price for a new build property in May 2016 was £200,554, an increase of 12.25 per cent on the previous year, while the average price for an existing resold property was £138,700, an increase of 3.6 per cent on the previous year.

The average price for a property purchased by a former owner occupier was £167,494, an increase of 4.1 per cent on the previous year. The average price for property purchased by a first time buyer was £115,428, an increase of four per cent on the previous year.

The average price for a cash sale was £130,169, an increase of four per cent on the previous year, while the average price for property purchased with a mortgage was £146,214, an increase of 4.1 per cent on the previous year.