Scottish house prices see annual increase of 4.4 per cent

The latest publication of the monthly UK HPI shows that the average price increased by 4.4 per cent on October in the previous year though it did decrease by 0.3 per cent when compared to the previous month.

The figure compares to a UK average of £231,095, which was an increase of 2.7 per cent on October in the previous year and a decrease of 0.2 per cent when compared to the previous month.

The volume of residential sales in Scotland in August 2018 was 10,400 – an increase of 9.3 per cent on August 2017, although the figure of 10,400 sales is provisional and may increase as more transactions are incorporated into the index.

Registers of Scotland business development and information director, Kenny Crawford, said: “Average prices in Scotland continued their upward trend in October with an increase of 4.4 per cent when compared to October 2017. Average prices have been increasing each month since March 2016, when compared with the same month of the previous year.

“Residential sales volumes increased in August by 9.3 per cent when compared with August 2017 in Scotland. The cumulative volume of sales for Scotland for the financial year to date – from April 2018 to August 2018 – was 45,281. This is a decrease of 1.6 per cent on the equivalent year to date position in the previous financial year 2017/18.”

Average price increases were recorded in the majority (27) of local authorities in October 2018, when comparing prices with the previous year. The biggest price increases were in Glasgow City, East Dunbartonshire and North Lanarkshire where average prices increased by 9.3 per cent to £135,238, 8.0 per cent to £218,795 and 7.8 per cent to £109,102 respectively. The largest decreases were recorded in Aberdeen City and East Ayrshire, where average prices fell by 6.0 per cent to £156,774 and 3.3 per cent to £94,681 respectively.

Increases in sales volumes were recorded in 26 local authorities in August 2018, when comparing volumes with the previous year. The biggest increases were in East Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire and Falkirk, where volumes increased by 29.3 per cent to 243 sales, 25.8 per cent to 571 sales and 25.5 per cent to 315 sales respectively. The biggest decreases were in City of Edinburgh and Perth and Kinross, where volumes fell by 10.2 per cent to 1,098 sales and 9.8 per cent to 285 sales respectively.

Across Scotland, all property types showed an increase in average price in October 2018 when compared with the same month in the previous year. Detached properties showed the biggest increase, rising by 5.4 per cent to £263,300. The average price of flatted properties rose by 3.9 per cent to £109,019, the smallest increase of all property types.

The average price in October 2018 for a property purchased by a first time buyer was £122,346 – an increase of 4.1 per cent compared to the same month in the previous year. The average price for a property purchased by a former owner occupier was £181,812 – an increase of 4.8 per cent on the previous year.

The average price for a cash sale was £139,812 – an increase of 4.3 per cent on the previous year – while the average price for property purchased with a mortgage was £156,934 – an increase of 4.5 per cent on the previous year.