Scottish house prices '˜growing faster than uk average'

Property prices are on the up across the UK but no where more than Scotland. Picture: Toby Williams

Scottish properties have grown in value at a faster rate than the UK average, according to new figures.

The latest publication of the monthly UK House Price Index shows the average price of a property in Scotland in April was £145,734 - an increase of 6.8% on the same month last year.

This compares to a UK average of £220,094, which was an increase of 5.6% compared to April 2016.

Registers of Scotland corporate director John King said: “Average prices this April showed the highest year-on-year increase since March 2015, when the average price increased by 10.4% compared to the year before, and there have been increases in every month since March 2016 when compared with the same month of the previous year.”

Graphic showing house price increases across the UK. Picture: Johnston Press

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The top five local authorities in terms of sales volumes were Glasgow City with 722 sales, Edinburgh with 562, Fife with 356, North Lanarkshire with 351 and South Lanarkshire with 313.

East Dunbartonshire saw the biggest price increase, with values soaring by 11.2% to £202,466.

Aberdeen saw the largest drop, with prices falling 4.3% to £167,630.

Across Scotland, all property types showed an increase in average price in April when compared with the same month last year.

Detached properties showed the biggest increase, rising 8% to £252,492.

The average price in April for properties bought by a first-time buyer was £117,556 - an increase of 5.9% compared to the same month of last year.

Meanwhile, the average price for one purchased by a former owner occupier was £174,848 - an increase of 7.5% on 2016.

The index also reveals details about sale volumes across the country in February.

Scotland’s number of residential sales during that month this year was 5,662.

Mr King added: “Sales volumes figures for February 2017 showed an increase in Scotland of 2.8% when compared with February 2016.

“This is also up by 10.7% when compared with February 2015 and up by 32.1% when compared with February 2013, but down by 1.3% when compared with February 2014.”