Scots housing market continues to outperform UK average

17th October 2018 | property (non-commercial)

Scotland's housing market has continued to outperform the UK average, in the latest publication of the monthly UK house price index.

The average price of a property in Scotland in August 2018 was £153,309, up by 4.1% per cent on August 2017 and an increase of 0.3% when compared to the previous month. This compares to a UK average of £232,797, an increase of 3.2% on the previous year and 0.2% compared with July 2018.

While the volume of residential sales in Scotland in June 2018, also just released, at 10,419, was down by 4.3% on June 2017, This compares with annual decreases of 24.5% in England and 20.0% in Wales for the month of June, and 13.0% in Northern Ireland in quarter 2 of 2018.

Average price increases were recorded in 28 of the 32 local authority areas in August 2018, on a year on year comparison. The biggest rises were in West Dunbartonshire (11.9%), Inverclyde (9.8%) and City of Glasgow (8.9%), whereas decreases were recorded in City of Aberdeen (4.0%), Aberdeenshire (2.5%), Scottish Borders (2.5%) and East Ayrshire (1.7%).

Eleven areas recorded year on year volume increases, and 21 recorded decreases. The biggest increases were in Inverclyde (27.0%) and Renfrewshire (12.1%), while Moray (down 24.7%) and Argyll & Bute (down 22.9%) saw the biggest falls.

Registers of Scotland business development and information director Kenny Crawford commented: “Average prices in Scotland continued their upward trend in June with an increase of 4.1% when compared to August 2017. Average prices have been increasing each month since March 2016, when compared with the same month of the previous year.

“Residential sales volumes decreased in June. The annual decrease of 4.3% when compared with June 2017 in Scotland is in the context of much larger decreases across the rest of the UK. The cumulative volume of sales for Scotland for the financial year to date – from April 2018 to June 2018 – was 25,905. This is an increase of 6.0% on the equivalent year to date position in the previous financial year 2017-18.”