Average Scottish house prices up 2.9 per cent on previous year

This compares to a UK average of £230,630, which was an increase of 2.8 per cent on November in the previous year and a decrease of 0.1 per cent when compared to the previous month.

The latest publication of the monthly UK HPI shows that the volume of residential sales in Scotland in September 2018 was 8,472 – a decrease of 9.1 per cent on September 2017 (a like-for-like comparison of the latest provisional estimate for September 2018 with the original provisional estimate for September 2017 as recorded before final figures became available. This compares to decreases of 7.9 per cent in England and 7.7 per cent in Wales, and an increase of 4.9 per cent in Northern Ireland (Quarter 3 – 2018).

Registers of Scotland operations director and accountable officer, Janet Egdell, said: “Average prices in Scotland continued their upward trend in November with an increase of 2.9 per cent when compared to November 2017. While the average price has increased each month since March 2016, when compared with the same month of the previous year, the trend in sales volume has not been as positive.

“The volume of residential sales in Scotland decreased in September, and has decreased in most months since November 2017, when compared with the same month of the previous year. This downward trend is also reflected in the cumulative volume of sales for Scotland for the financial year to date. From April 2018 to September 2018, the cumulative sales volume was 53,897. This is a decrease of 3.1 per cent on the equivalent year to date position in the previous financial year 2017/18.”

Average price increases were recorded in the majority (27) of local authorities in November 2018, when comparing prices with the previous year. The biggest price increases were in Midlothian, Highland and City of Edinburgh where average prices increased by 11.9 per cent to £187,796, 9.5 per cent to £170,923 and 9.3 per cent to £266,985 respectively. The largest decrease was recorded in Aberdeen City, where average prices fell by 6.7 per cent to £154,550.

Across Scotland, all property types showed an increase in average price in November 2018 when compared with the same month in the previous year. Terraced properties showed the biggest increase, rising by 4.3 per cent to £125,616. The average price of flatted properties rose by 1.8 per cent to £108,398, the smallest increase of all property types.

The average price in November 2018 for a property purchased by a first time buyer was £121,735 – an increase of 2.7 per cent compared to the same month in the previous year. The average price for a property purchased by a former owner occupier was £180,611 – an increase of 3.2 per cent on the previous year.

The average price for a cash sale was £138,574 – an increase of 2.5 per cent on the previous year – while the average price for property purchased with a mortgage was £156,255 – an increase of 3.1 per cent on the previous year.