Prices up, sales down in Registers' 10-year property report
Average house prices in Scotland rose by 35% in the decade 2005-2015, but sales volumes dropped by the same percentage, according to the latest 10-year property market report from Registers of Scotland.
Annual averages rose from £123,977 in 2005-06 to £167,396 in 2014-15, or 35% higher, and peaked at £173,830 in the final quarter of 2014-15, when more high value properties were sold ahead of the introduction of land and buildings transaction tax.
Meanwhile sales volumes decreased by 35% from 142,933 in 2005-06 to 92,798 in 2014-15, though the latter figure was the highest since 2007-08. Quarterly totals ranged from a high of 42,489 in Q3 of 2007-08 to a low of 11,785 in Q4 of 2008-09. Total market value was 12.3% lower at the end of the decade than at the start, but the 2014-15 figure was up by 41.7% compared with the 2009-10 low point of just under £11bn. In the peak year of 2007-08 sales totalled £23.2bn.
In terms of affordability, comparison with the latest data from the Office for National Statistics indicates that the most affordable areas for an individual to buy a home are in both East and North Ayrshire, while the least affordable is Aberdeenshire at nine times the median annual income in that area of £22,005. On average, a home in Scotland will cost six times the median annual income of £21,770 for an individual.
On the commercial front, both market value and sales volumes were significantly lower over the decade, the sales market totalling £5.5bn in 2005-06, 74% more than iin 2014-15, while volumes were down 29% over the decade from 5,181 to 3,673. However the market has grown by a third over the last five years, and the number of commercial leases agreed in 2014-15, 2,073, was easily the highest of the decade, comparing with 1,353 in 2013-14 (the next highest), 1,292 in 2007-08, 745 to 775 in each of the three years up to 2012, and 828 in 2005-06.