New figures show average house price in Scotland almost £150k

Average house prices in Scotland have continued to rise, reaching £149,185 in July, an increase of almost 5 per cent from the previous year.

House prices have gone up in parts of Scotland. Picture: Toby Williams

The latest figures from the UK house price index (UK HPI) showed average July prices were also up 2.8 per cent on the previous month.

This compares to a UK average of £226,185, an increase of 5.1 per cent on the previous year.

Edinburgh saw the biggest increase in average prices over the past year, with the Capital rising almost 10 per cent to £243,920 last month.

In contrast, Aberdeen witnessed the biggest fall, down 7.7 per cent to £166,836.

Meanwhile, the average price for property purchased by a first time buyer in July was £120,630 – an increase of 4.1 per cent compared to the same month in the previous year.

The data also shows a rise in residential sales in May, up to 8,241 -– an increase of 13.7 per cent on May 2016 and an increase of 3.5 per cent on the previous month.

Registers of Scotland business development and information director Kenny Crawford said: “Average prices in Scotland continued their upward trend in July with an increase of 4.8 per cent when compared to July 2016. This represents the biggest percentage increase year-on-year since March 2015.

“While average prices have been steadily increasing each month since March 2016, when compared with the same month of the previous year, sales volumes figures have been more changeable over the 12 months to May.

“May 2017 showed an increase in sales volumes in Scotland of 13.7 per cent when compared with May 2016, however, volumes in May 2016 were lower than usual, a possible effect of the introduction of changes to the land and buildings transaction tax that came into effect on 1 April 2016.”

Meanwhile, separate statistics show the supply of new homes in Scotland has risen three per cent in a year with housing association new builds driving the increase.

Figures to the end of June show the number of social sector homes started rose by around a third year on year while private sector starts fell.

Official statistics show new homes increased from 17,968 to 18,539.

Of these, housing association new builds rose by 428 homes (18 per cent).