The latest publication of the monthly UK House Price Index (UK HPI) shows that the average price of a property in Scotland in May 2017 was £143,106 – an increase of 3.5 per cent on May in the previous year and an increase of 0.7 per cent when compared to the previous month.

This compares to a UK average of £220,713, which was an increase of 4.7 per cent compared to May in the previous year and an increase of 0.5 per cent when compared to the previous month.

The volume of residential sales in Scotland in March 2017 was 9,144 – a decrease of 17.0 per cent on March 2016 but an increase of 60.4 per cent on the previous month. This compares with annual decreases in sales volumes of 44.3 per cent in England, 35.5 per cent in Wales and 28.5 per cent in Northern Ireland. Volumes in March 2016 were likely to have been affected by the introduction on 1 April 2016 of the higher rates for additional dwellings under Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in Scotland and Stamp Duty Land Tax in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Registers of Scotland business development and information director Kenny Crawford said: “Average prices in May continued their upward trend when compared with May 2016. There have been increases in every month since March 2016 when compared with the same month of the previous year.”

“Sales volumes figures for March 2017 showed a decrease in Scotland of 17.0% when compared with March 2016, however volumes in March 2016 were higher than usual due to changes in Land and Buildings Transaction Tax that came into effect on 1 April 2016. When compared with previous years, sales volumes figures for March 2017 are up by 20.7 per cent when compared with March 2015, up by 31.8 per cent when compared with March 2014, and up by 44.0 per cent when compared with March 2013.”

The top five local authorities in terms of sales volumes were Glasgow City (1,189 sales), the City of Edinburgh (1,009 sales), Fife (633 sales), South Lanarkshire (595 sales) and North Lanarkshire (481 sales).

Price increases were recorded in 27 out of 32 local authorities in May 2017 compared to the previous year. The biggest price increase was in Perth and Kinross where the average price increased by 7.6 per cent to £182,254. The biggest decrease was again in Aberdeen City, where prices fell by 7.8 per cent to £164,277.

Across Scotland, all property types showed an increase in average price in May 2017 when compared with the same month in the previous year. Detached properties showed the biggest increase, rising by 6.0 per cent to £245,888.

The average price in May 2017 for property purchased by a first time buyer was £115,571 – an increase of 2.0 per cent compared to the same month in the previous year. The average price for a property purchased by a former owner occupier was £171,579 – an increase of 4.7 per cent on the previous year.

The average price for a cash sale was £134,011 – an increase of 5.2 per cent on the previous year – while the average price for property purchased with a mortgage was £148,034 – an increase of 3.3 per cent on the previous year.