Monthly House Price Index statistics for December 2018 published

Published: 13 February 2019

Average price of a property in Scotland up 2.4 per cent on previous year.

The latest publication of the monthly UK HPI shows that the average price of a property in Scotland in December 2018 was £148,711 – an increase of 2.4 per cent on December in the previous year and a decrease of 0.9 per cent when compared to the previous month. This compares to a UK average of £230,776, which was an increase of 2.5 per cent on December in the previous year and an increase of 0.2 per cent when compared to the previous month.

The volume of residential sales in Scotland in October 2018 was 9,003 – an increase of 1.9 per cent on October 2017 (a like-for-like comparison of the latest provisional estimate for October 2018 with the original provisional estimate for October 2017 as recorded before final figures became available). This compares to increases of 4.7 per cent in England, 2.8 per cent in Wales and 4.3 per cent in Northern Ireland (Quarter 4 – 2018).

Registers of Scotland Operations Director and Accountable Officer Janet Egdell said: “Average prices in Scotland continued their upward trend in December with an increase of 2.4 per cent when compared to December 2017. While the average price has increased each month since March 2016, when compared with the same month of the previous year, the trend in sales volume has not been as positive.

“The volume of residential sales in Scotland increased in October, but has decreased in most months since November 2017, when compared with the same month of the previous year. This downward trend is also reflected in the cumulative volume of sales for Scotland for the financial year to date. From April to October 2018, the cumulative sales volume was 63,033. This is a decrease of 2.5 per cent on the equivalent year to date position in the previous financial year 2017/18.”

Average price increases were recorded in the majority (25) of local authorities in December 2018, when comparing prices with the previous year. The biggest price increases were in Midlothian and Stirling where average prices increased by 15.2 per cent to £190,031 and 8.3 per cent to £187,620 respectively. The largest decreases were recorded in Aberdeen City and East Dunbartonshire, where average prices fell by 6.5 per cent to £152,799 and 1.4 per cent to £209,182 respectively.

Across Scotland, all property types showed an increase in average price in December 2018 when compared with the same month in the previous year. Semi-detached and terraced properties showed the biggest increase, both rising by 3.2 per cent to £155,537 and £124,025 respectively. The average price of detached properties rose by 1.1 per cent to £251,485, the smallest increase of all property types.

The average price in December 2018 for a property purchased by a first time buyer was £121,331 – an increase of 2.7 per cent compared to the same month in the previous year. The average price for a property purchased by a former owner occupier was £176,362 – an increase of 1.9 per cent on the previous year.

The average price was £137,557 for a cash sale and £153,869 for property purchased with a mortgage – both showing an increase of 2.4 per cent on the previous year.

Notes to editors

  1. Registers of Scotland is the government department responsible for compiling and maintaining registers relating to property and other legal documents in Scotland. Registers of Scotland records and safeguards the rights of the individual while providing open access to information on the registers.
  2. For the full picture and detail, access the UK HPI and the HPI Scotland. As with other indicators in the Housing Market, which typically fluctuate from month to month, it is important not to put too much weight on one month’s set of house price data.
  3. The UK HPI was designated as National Statistics by the Office for Statistics Regulation on 18 September 2018.
  4. The UK HPI is published on the second or third Wednesday of each month with Northern Ireland figures updated quarterly. See the calendar of release dates.
  5. We have published the Quality Assurance of Administrative Data (QAAD) documents for each of the data sources used in the UK House Price Index.
  6. A comparison guide is available that compares the source data, index and methods of the different house price index measures that are published in the UK. This guide highlights the strengths and limitations of each measure to aid users in choosing the most appropriate index for their requirements.
  7. The statistics have been produced in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The UK House Price Index is calculated by the Office for National Statistics and Land & Property Services Northern Ireland. Find out about the methodology used.
  8. Data for the UK House Price Index is provided by HM Land Registry, Registers of Scotland, Land & Property Services Northern Ireland and the Valuation Office Agency.
  9. Separate HPI releases are also published by HM Land Registry and Land & Property Services Northern Ireland, which focus on the figures for England and Wales and for Northern Ireland. The Office for National Statistics also publishes a monthly HPI statistical bulletin with commentary on the whole of the UK.
  10. Download the data. Datasets are available as CSV files, or create your own reports using the UK HPI search tool.
  11. Registers of Scotland published our Property Market Report 2007-08 to 2017-18 in June 2018, detailing trends in the land and property market over the reporting period. Our most recent Calendar Year Market Review 2017 was published in March 2018. Details of all of our property statistics releases and future publication dates are available on our website.
  12. For further information, please telephone Jacq Kelly on 0131 528 3738, 07825 388 120, email communications@ros.gov.uk, or write to: Communications, Registers of Scotland, Meadowbank House, 153 London Road, Edinburgh, EH8 7AU.
  13. Registers of Scotland began compiling quarterly statistics on the housing market with the completion of the extension of the Land Register to all counties in Scotland in April 2003. The differences in methodology between our quarterly statistics and the HPI are highlighted in our guidance notes. A comparison of the two statistical outputs, which explains the key differences, is also available.
  14. Follow us on Twitter @RegistersOfScot, Facebook and LinkedIn. Sign up to our mailing list.

Footnotes

  1. This publication covers statistics up to December 2018.↩
  2. All average prices reported from the UK HPI are geometric means, which will typically be closer to the median than the arithmetic mean.↩
  3. Average price estimates for the most recent months are provisional figures and are likely to change when more recent data are incorporated into the index. Revision policies can be accessed here.↩
  4. Due to there being a period of 2 to 8 weeks between completion and registration of sales, volume figures based on the month of date of entry are presented up to October because November and December figures are likely to change when more recent sales applications data are received.↩
  5. The final revised volume of sales in October 2017 was 9,047, which equates to an annual decrease of 0.5 per cent in October 2018. However, the sales volume for October 2018 is still subject to revision, and will increase as later registered transactions are incorporated into the index. ↩
  6. Cumulative volumes are based on revised HPI Scotland volume figures (December 2018).↩
  7. Na h-Eileanan Siar, Orkney Islands and Clackmannanshire showed increases of 26.3 per cent, 10.3 per cent and 9.1 per cent respectively, and Shetland Islands showed a decrease of 14.6 per cent. Local authority areas where sales volumes within the 12 months to October 2018 represent less than 1 per cent of the all Scotland sales volume are excluded from the figures used for highlighting purposes due to the volatility of the market in these areas.↩

Media contact

Jacq Kelly
Press and public affairs manager
jacqueline.kelly@ros.gov.uk
07825 388 120