House prices in Scotland continue to increase

Published: 19 February 2020

Monthly UK House Price Index figures released for December 2019.

Three key figures for December:

  • £151,603
    The average price of a property in Scotland
  • 2.2%
    The annual price change of a property in Scotland
  • -1.5%
    The monthly price change of a property in Scotland

The latest provisional statistics from the UK House Price Index (HPI) show that the average price of a property in Scotland in December 2019 was £151,603 – an increase of 2.2 per cent on December 2018.

Comparing with the previous month, house prices in Scotland fell by 1.5 per cent between November 2019 and December 2019.

The UK average house price was £234,742 which was an increase of 2.2 per cent on December 2018 and an increase of 0.3 per cent on the previous month.

The volume of residential sales in Scotland in October 2019 was 9,250, an increase of 2.7 per cent on the original provisional estimate for October 2018. This compares with a decrease of 0.8 per cent in both England and Wales, and an increase of 5.0 per cent in Northern Ireland (Quarter 4 – 2019 compared with quarter in previous year).

Commenting on the release, Accountable Officer Janet Egdell said:

In 2019, average house prices in Scotland grew faster than the UK annual rate. In the year to December 2019 prices rose in 25 out of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas. The largest increase, excluding local authorities with very low sales transactions, was in Inverclyde, where the average price increased by 10.1 per cent. The largest decrease was recorded in City of Aberdeen where the average price fell by 3.4 per cent.

Detached properties saw the largest price rise over the year, increasing by an average of £13,732 (5.4 per cent) to £265,909. The average price of flats and maisonettes was down by 0.1 per cent in the year to December 2019 to £107,905.

In Scotland, detached houses showed the largest increase, rising by 5.4% in the year to December 2019 to £265,909. Flats showed a decrease, falling by 0.1% to £107,905.

Average price increases were recorded in the majority (25) of local authorities, when comparing prices with the previous year. The largest increase was in Inverclyde, where the average price increased by 10.1 per cent to £102,979. The largest decrease was recorded in City of Aberdeen, where the average price fell by 3.4 per cent to £146,910. Local authority estimates are based on a three-month moving average to reduce volatility.

Map showing annual percentage change in the average residential property price by local authority

In December 2019, the highest-priced area to purchase a property was City of Edinburgh, where the average price was £269,603. In contrast, the lowest-priced area to purchase a property was East Ayrshire, where the average price was £94,249.

Map showing average residential property price by local authority

Further information on HPI Scotland by local authority, property type, first time buyers and cash sales can be found in the latest HPI Scotland publication.

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.

Notes to editors

  1. Registers of Scotland is the public body 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. 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.
  3. 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. The UK HPI was designated as National Statistics by the Office for Statistics Regulation on 18 October 2018.
  4. Registers of Scotland provides data on residential property sales for the Scotland element of the UK House Price Index. 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.
  5. Details of all of our property statistics releases and future publication dates are available on our website. A comparison guide comparing the different house price index measures that are published in the UK is also available.
  6. Information on individual property purchase prices is available for free via our ScotLIS service.
  7. Sign up for our data stats alert service.

Footnotes

  1. All average prices reported from the UK HPI are geometric means, which will typically be closer to the median than the arithmetic mean.
  2. 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 2019 figures are likely to change when more recent sales applications data are received.
  3. Comparison between the latest provisional estimate for October 2019 with the original provisional estimate for October 2018 as recorded before final figures available. The final revised volume of sales in October 2018 was 9,127 an annual increase of 1.3 per cent in October 2019. However, the sales volume for September 2019 is still subject to revision, and will increase as later registered transactions are incorporated into the index.
  4. Na h-Eileanan Siar increased by 15.3 per cent and Shetland Islands decreased by 4.4 per cent. Local authority areas where sales volumes within the 12 months to October 2019 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

Andy Richardson
PR manager
Email: andy.richardson@ros.gov.uk
Telephone: 0131 200 3994 | Mobile: 07975 618126