September house prices take an upturn

Average house prices in Scotland took an upturn in September, according to the latest provisional statistics from the UK House Price Index released by Registers of Scotland.

The average price recorded was £161,510, an increase of 4.3% on September 2019, and of 4.4% on August 2020. 

The index also shows a UK average price of £244,513, up 4.7% on September 2019 and 1.7% on the previous month. Prices climbed faster in the UK earlier in the summer as lockdown was lifted earlier than in Scotland.

Average year-on-year price increases were recorded in 22 of the 32 local authority areas, when comparing prices with the previous year. The largest increase (8.1%) was in South Ayrshire; the largest decrease (7.9%) was in City of Aberdeen.

First figures for the volume of residential sales in Scotland in July 2020, the first month after the lifting of restrictions on the market, show a total of 4,982, a decrease of 43.7% on the original provisional estimate for July 2019. This compares with a decrease of 30.1% in England and 47.2% in Wales.

Accountable officer Janet Egdell commented: "Scottish house prices continue to trend upwards in September: this is the largest annual increase in Scottish house prices since October 2018."

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