Scottish house prices end 2021 up 11.2% on the year

Average house prices in Scotland dipped in December but closed the year 11.2% higher than in December 2020, according to the latest provisional statistics from the UK House Price Index.

The December 2021 average of £180,485 was 1.8% below the November record high of £183,876, but well up on the £162,375 recorded 12 months earlier. The UK average house price was £274,712, up by 10.8% on December 2020 and also up by 0.8% on the previous month.

Average annual price increases were recorded in all 32 local authority areas. The largest mainland increase was in Fife (16.0%), followed by Argyll & Bute (15.5%) and Inverclyde (15.4%). All three island areas, where figures fluctuate more due to low numbers of transactions, showed year-on-year increases of 16% or just above. The smallest annual increase was recorded in City of Aberdeen followed by Dumfries & Galloway (6.7%) and Moray (8.6%).

Detached properties showed the biggest increase, rising by 16.7% in the year to December 2021, while flatted properties showed the smallest increase at 5.9%.

Edinburgh remained the most expensive place to buy a property, with an average price of £312,459 (up 9.7% on the year), followed by East Lothian at £288,058 (up 14.4%) and East Renfrewshire at £273,408 (up 10.6%).

First provisional sales figures for October 2021 show a total of 10,228, an decrease of 16.2% on the original provisional estimate for October 2020 but an increase of 8.2% on October 2019. 

Registers of Scotland business development director Kenny Crawford commented as respects sales volumes: "Over the year as a whole, from November 2020 to the end of October 2021, the number of transactions has picked up following the reductions caused by COVID-19 measures and cumulatively is now 67% higher than the previous year. Figures in the current year to date are also 15.5% higher than pre-COVID-19 figures from November 2018 to October 2019."