Scots house prices show steep rise in April

The average price of a property in Scotland in April 2022 was up 16.2% on April 2021 to £187,954, according to the latest provisional statistics from the UK House Price Index.

Comparing with the previous month, prices were also 3.0% higher.

The UK average was £281,161, an increase of 12.4% on April 2021 and 1.1% on March 2022.

Average year on year price increases were recorded in 31 out of 32 local authority areas, when comparing prices with the previous year. The exception was Shetland was a 0.6% drop in Shetland, but the small number of transactions in island areas can produce wider fluctuations: the Orkney average was up by 34.3% and that in Na h-Eileanan Siar by 25.1%.

The largest mainland increase was in Scottish Borders (22.9%), followed by Falkirk (19.5%) and Moray (18.5%). The smallest increase (3.6%) was recorded in Inverclyde, followed by City of Dundee (5.6%) and City of Aberdeen (5.9%). Detached properties continued to show the biggest annual increase among property types, at 22.5% compared with 10.4% for flats.

First provisional estimates show the volume of residential sales in Scotland in February 2022 as 6,435, down 10.6% on the original provisional estimate for February 2021, though 12.2% higher than February 2020, the last pre-pandemic month. This compares with decreases of 31.7% in England and 9.1% in Wales compared with February 2021.

Janet Egdell, Registers of Scotland accountable officer commented: "Average prices for property in Scotland keep on rising and have increased in every month since July 2020 when comparing with the previous year. The annual increase has been in excess of 5% in every month since October 2020. In comparison, in the 12 months to October 2020, the annual increase only exceeded 3% on one occasion.

"Over the year as a whole from March 2021 to the end of February 2022, the number of transactions remained high, 23.3% higher than the previous year which was affected by COVID-19 measures, and 8.3% higher than the year before (pre-COVID) from March 2019 to February 2020."