Three key figures for December:

• £151,603
  The average price of a property in Scotland
• 2.2%
  The annual price change of a property in Scotland
• -1.5%
  The monthly price change of a property in Scotland

The latest provisional statistics from the UK House Price Index (HPI) show that the average price of a property in Scotland in December 2019 was £151,603 – an increase of 2.2 per cent on December 2018.

Comparing with the previous month, house prices in Scotland fell by 1.5 per cent between November 2019 and December 2019.

The UK average house price was £234,742 which was an increase of 2.2 per cent on December 2018 and an increase of 0.3 per cent on the previous month.

The volume of residential sales in Scotland in October 2019 was 9,250, an increase of 2.7 per cent on the original provisional estimate for October 2018. This compares with a decrease of 0.8 per cent in both England and Wales, and an increase of 5.0 per cent in Northern Ireland (Quarter 4 – 2019 compared with quarter in previous year).

Commenting on the release, Accountable Officer Janet Egdell said:

In 2019, average house prices in Scotland grew faster than the UK annual rate. In the year to December 2019 prices rose in 25 out of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas. The largest increase, excluding local authorities with very low sales transactions, was in Inverclyde, where the average price increased by 10.1 per cent. The largest decrease was recorded in City of Aberdeen where the average price fell by 3.4 per cent.

Detached properties saw the largest price rise over the year, increasing by an average of £13,732 (5.4 per cent) to £265,909. The average price of flats and maisonettes was down by 0.1 per cent in the year to December 2019 to £107,905.

In Scotland, detached houses showed the largest increase, rising by 5.4% in the year to December 2019 to £265,909. Flats showed a decrease, falling by 0.1% to £107,905.

Average price increases were recorded in the majority (25) of local authorities, when comparing prices with the previous year. The largest increase was in Inverclyde, where the average price increased by 10.1 per cent to £102,979. The largest decrease was recorded in City of Aberdeen, where the average price fell by 3.4 per cent to £146,910. Local authority estimates are based on a three-month moving average to reduce volatility.

In December 2019, the highest-priced area to purchase a property was City of Edinburgh, where the average price was £269,603. In contrast, the lowest-priced area to purchase a property was East Ayrshire, where the average price was £94,249.

Further information on HPI Scotland by local authority, property type, first time buyers and cash sales can be found in the latest HPI Scotland publication.

As with other indicators in the housing market, which typically fluctuate from month-to-month, it is important not to put too much weight on one month’s set of house price data.