House prices up and a fall in property sales, in latest figures

Property prices in Scotland are rising steadily while the volume of sales declines, according to new data from the Registers of Scotland - albeit, at a slower rate compared to the rest of the UK.

Property Price – Scotland v the UK

According to the latest publication of UK House Price Index, the average price of a property in Scotland was £150,472 - up 4.8% from June 2017, and 0.8% higher than the previous month. This compares to a UK average of £228,384 - a 3.0% rise against the previous year and an increase of 0.4% compared to May 2018.

Drop in Property Sales, Scotland

Meanwhile, across Scotland there were 7,371 residential sales in April 2018, which indicates a 9.4% fall in the volume of sales from April 2017 - compared with the year-on-year declines of 19.3% in England, 13.9% in Wales, and Northern Ireland’s 13.0% for quarter 2 of 2018.

House Price Average & Sales

In June, a rise in house price averages was recorded in 27 of the 32 Scottish local authorities, with the most significant increase in West Lothian (11.3%), followed by 9.2% in both Midlothian and City of Edinburgh. The largest decrease in property prices was noted in Aberdeenshire (3.7%) and City if Aberdeen (2.8%).

In April 2018, a spike in sales volumes was recorded in only four local authorities compared with the previous year: East Lothian, Perth & Kinross, Dundee and Clackmannan. The biggest decreases were recorded in Argyll & Bute (33.0%), Stirling (23.9%) and Inverclyde (23.3%).

Property Type

The publication also indicated semi-detached properties had the biggest price increase (6.0%), followed by terraced properties (5.9%), flatted properties (4.5%) and detached properties (3.3%).

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