Average price of property in Scotland up 3.2% on previous year

The latest publication of Registers of Scotland’s monthly UK House Price Index shows that the average price of a property in Scotland in July 2018 was £152,245 – an increase of 3.2% on July in the previous year and an increase of 1.4% when compared to the previous month.

This compares to a UK average of £231,422, which was an increase of 3.1% on July in the previous year and an increase of 1.2% when compared to the previous month. The average price of a property in Scotland has increased each month since March 2016, when compared with the same month of the previous year.

The volume of residential sales in Scotland in May 2018 was 7,993 – a decrease of 6.3% on May 2017. This compares with annual decreases in sales volumes of 16.1% in England and 14.4% in Wales in May 2018, and 13.0% in Northern Ireland in Quarter 2 - 2018. The cumulative volume of sales for Scotland for the calendar year to date – from January 2018 to May 2018 – was 34,711. This is a decrease of 9.2% on the equivalent year to date position in the previous calendar year (2017).

Average price increases were recorded in the vast majority (29) of local authorities in July 2018, when comparing prices with the previous year. The biggest price increases were in West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian, where average prices increased by 12.7% to £109,076 and 10.8% to £160,075 respectively. The decreases were recorded in City of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and East Ayrshire, where average prices fell by 4.4% to £159,328, 3.7% to £188,835 and 2.3% to £95,325 respectively.

Increases in sales volumes were recorded in eight local authorities in May 2018, when comparing volumes with the previous year. The biggest increases were in Stirling and Inverclyde, where volumes increased by 24.6% to 157 sales and 7.4% to 101 sales respectively. The biggest decreases were in City of Edinburgh and East Ayrshire, where volumes fell by 21.7% to 881 sales and 19.5% to 173 sales respectively.

Across Scotland, all property types showed an increase in average price in July 2018 when compared with the same month in the previous year. Terraced properties showed the biggest increase, rising by 4.1% to £126,061, while semi-detached properties and flatted properties increased by 3.1% to £156,903 and £111,344 respectively, and detached properties increased by 2.6% to £260,221.

The average price in July 2018 for a property purchased by a first-time buyer was £123,859 – an increase of 3.5% compared to the same month in the previous year. The average price for a property purchased by a former owner-occupier was £181,149 – an increase of 2.8% on the previous year.

The average price for a cash sale was £140,862 – an increase of 2.9% on the previous year – while the average price for property purchased with a mortgage was £157,509 – an increase of 3.3% on the previous year.

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