Average price of a property in Scotland up 1.3 per cent on previous year.

The latest publication of the monthly UK HPI shows that the average price of a property in Scotland in January 2019 was £149,036 – an increase of 1.3 per cent on January in the previous year and an increase of 0.6 per cent when compared to the previous month. This compares to a UK average of £228,147, which was an increase of 1.7 per cent on January in the previous year and a decrease of 0.8 per cent when compared to the previous month.

The volume of residential sales in Scotland in November 2018 was 9,992 – an increase of 16.6 per cent on November 2017 (a like-for-like comparison of the latest provisional estimate for November 2018 with the original provisional estimate for November 2017 as recorded before final figures became available). This compares to increases of 11.5 per cent in England, 16.4 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 January with an increase of 1.3 per cent when compared to January 2018. The average price has increased each month since March 2016, when compared with the same month of the previous year.

“The volume of residential sales in Scotland increased in November. This continues a recent turnaround following the downward trend seen in most months since November 2017, when compared with the same month of the previous year. From April to November 2018, the cumulative sales volume was 73,157. This is a decrease of 0.3 per cent on the equivalent year to date position in the previous financial year 2017-18.”

Average price increases were recorded in the majority (22) of local authorities in January 2019, when comparing prices with the previous year. The biggest price increases were in Midlothian and Perth and Kinross where average prices increased by 13.6 per cent to £187,264 and 7.2 per cent to £192,153 respectively. The largest decreases were recorded in Inverclyde and Aberdeen City, where average prices fell by 8.1 per cent to £89,865 and 7.9 per cent to £150,381 respectively.

Across Scotland, all property types showed an increase in average price in January 2019 when compared with the same month in the previous year. Flatted properties showed the biggest increase, rising by 1.8 per cent to £107,872. The average price of detached properties rose by 0.4 per cent to £256,726, the smallest increase of all property types.

The average price in January 2019 for a property purchased by a first time buyer was £120,887 – an increase of 1.8 per cent compared to the same month in the previous year. The average price for a property purchased by a former owner occupier was £177,938 – an increase of 0.8 per cent on the previous year.

The average price was £137,721 for a cash sale – an increase of 1.6 per cent on the previous year – while the average price for property purchased with a mortgage was £154,275 – an increase of 1.2 per cent on the previous year.