Average price of a property in Scotland up 2.4 per cent on previous year.

The latest publication of the monthly UK HPI shows that the average price of a property in Scotland in December 2018 was £148,711 – an increase of 2.4 per cent on December in the previous year and a decrease of 0.9 per cent when compared to the previous month. This compares to a UK average of £230,776, which was an increase of 2.5 per cent on December in the previous year and an increase of 0.2 per cent when compared to the previous month.

The volume of residential sales in Scotland in October 2018 was 9,003 – an increase of 1.9 per cent on October 2017 (a like-for-like comparison of the latest provisional estimate for October 2018 with the original provisional estimate for October 2017 as recorded before final figures became available. This compares to increases of 4.7 per cent in England, 2.8 per cent in Wales and 4.3 per cent in Northern Ireland (Quarter 4 – 2018).

Registers of Scotland Operations Director and Accountable Officer Janet Egdell said: “Average prices in Scotland continued their upward trend in December with an increase of 2.4 per cent when compared to December 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 increased in October, but 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 to October 2018, the cumulative sales volume was 63,033. This is a decrease of 2.5 per cent on the equivalent year to date position in the previous financial year 2017/18.”

Average price increases were recorded in the majority (25) of local authorities in December 2018, when comparing prices with the previous year. The biggest price increases were in Midlothian and Stirling where average prices increased by 15.2 per cent to £190,031 and 8.3 per cent to £187,620 respectively. The largest decreases were recorded in Aberdeen City and East Dunbartonshire, where average prices fell by 6.5 per cent to £152,799 and 1.4 per cent to £209,182 respectively.

Across Scotland, all property types showed an increase in average price in December 2018 when compared with the same month in the previous year. Semi-detached and terraced properties showed the biggest increase, both rising by 3.2 per cent to £155,537 and £124,025 respectively. The average price of detached properties rose by 1.1 per cent to £251,485, the smallest increase of all property types.

The average price in December 2018 for a property purchased by a first time buyer was £121,331 – 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 £176,362 – an increase of 1.9 per cent on the previous year.

The average price was £137,557 for a cash sale and £153,869 for property purchased with a mortgage – both showing an increase of 2.4 per cent on the previous year.