House prices up four per cent over last January

The average price of a property in Scotland in January 2017 was £142,233 – an increase of four per cent on January in the previous year and an increase of 2.1 per cent when compared to the previous month, according to latest figures from the Registers of Scotland.

This compares to a UK average of £218,255, which was an increase of 6.2 per cent compared to January in the previous year and an increase of 0.8 per cent when compared to the previous month.

The latest publication of the monthly UK House Price Index (UK HPI) also reveals that the volume of residential sales in Scotland in November 2016 was 8,594 – a decrease of 3.2 per cent on November 2015 and an increase of 3.2 per cent on last month.

This compares with annual decreases in sales volumes of 21.2 per cent in England, 12.2 per cent in Wales and 17.6 per cent in Northern Ireland. Registers of Scotland director of commercial services Kenny Crawford said: “Average prices continue to hold steady. January 2017 has continued the general upward trend seen in 2016, when every month – with the exception of March – showed an increase in average price when compared with the same month of the previous year. “Sales volumes figures for November 2016 showed a decrease in Scotland of 3.2 per cent when compared with November 2015. This is up by 0.2 per cent when compared with November 2014, down by 3.6 per cent when compared with November 2013 and up by 23.0 per cent when compared with November 2012.” The top five local authorities in terms of sales volumes were City of Edinburgh (1,057 sales), Glasgow City (926 sales), Fife (579 sales), South Lanarkshire (535 sales) and North Lanarkshire (476 sales). The biggest price increase when comparing January 2017 with January 2016 was again in East Renfrewshire where the average price increased by 10.8 per cent to £213,353. The biggest decrease was again in the City of Aberdeen, where prices fell by 10.2 per cent to £163,176. Mr Crawford added: “Average prices in the City of Aberdeen have been showing year-on-year decreases for each month since June 2015. In relation to volumes, both the City of Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire had the biggest decrease in volumes – of 2.4 per cent – when comparing November 2016 with November 2015.” Across Scotland, all property types showed an increase in average price in January 2017 when compared with the same month in the previous year, with detached properties showing the biggest increase of 4.6 per cent to £248,647. The average price in January 2017 for a property purchased by a former owner occupier was £170,921 – an increase of 4.3 per cent compared to the same month in the previous year. The average price for property purchased by a first time buyer was £114,617 – an increase of 3.6 per cent on the previous year. The average price for a cash sale was £131,289 – an increase of 3.8 per cent on the previous year – while the average price for property purchased with a mortgage was £147,289 – an increase of 4.1 per cent on the previous year.