Your Move has reported that house prices keep edging up in Scotland, increasing 0.2% in December – a £408 increase on the average home, now worth £172,204.
Overall that leaves the average price in Scotland £3,687 up on the same time last year, and annual growth in prices at 2.2%.
Scotland still trails the 3.6% annual growth in England and Wales as a whole, but is outperforming Wales (2.1%), the North East (where prices were at over 2016), and London (1.3%). The market has largely seen steady growth since the spike in anticipation of the introduction of the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in April 2015 and the subsequent fall in prices.
In Scotland, prices in the top 11 local authorities (out of 32) have modest growth of £2,100, or 1.0% with the most expensive area – East Renfrewshire – seeing prices increase 11.5% annually to reach £252,926 at the end of December (overtaking Edinburgh). The only falls have been recorded in Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City (both down 4%, annually).
Lower priced property has outperformed the top of the market growing 1.9%. The rise is supported by solid increases in areas such as West Dunbartonshire (up 7.1%) and Clackmannanshire (up 6.1%). The cheapest three local authorities have all seen small dips in value over the last year with Na h-Eileanan Siar (the cheapest area with prices averaging £105,376) down 0.2%, prices in North Ayrshire fell 5.9%, and Inverclyde down 9.4%, making it the lowest performing area nationally on an annual basis.
Scotland’s mid-market has been driving house price growth over the year. At the top of it, the Shetland Islands saw (5.7%) average prices surge 10.9% in December due to some high value sales. That saw a new peak on the islands of £163,997 and pushed price growth there to 13.2% annually. Argyll and Bute, again swayed by higher value sales, has also seen double-digit growth (10.6%). However, mid market performance also re ects solid growth in prices in areas such as Glasgow City (up 5.9%, annually), neighbouring South Lanarkshire and Dundee City (up 5.1%).
Latest transaction data from the ONS, meanwhile, suggests that the cut in interest rates to 0.25% in August has provided a boost to the market. Transactions for September were up 10% on the previous month and were 9% higher than September 2015. With 9,352 properties sold, the total was the highest for the month since 2007.
Christine Campbell, Your Move managing director in Scotland, said: “Scotland’s market continues to make steady progress, not hitting the highs of some other parts of the UK, but also missing the lows. It enters the new year in a good place.”