RoS is one of the leading sources of land and property data and statistics in Scotland.

We deliver data reports to over 70 regular customers and publish official statistics on house prices.

We have a range of users, from industry experts, to public bodies such as the Scottish Government and the Scottish Fiscal Commission who use the data and statistics for policy development and analysis.

This blog post will cover the housing market in 2021 and over the last 5 years. The statistics used can be found on our house price statistics page.

Key messages from 2021:

• The average property price in 2021 was £201,267[1], an increase on the previous 5 years.
• The volume of residential property sales in 2021 was 117,370, the highest annual volume in the last 5 years.
• Average price increases were recorded in all 32 local authorities in 2021, when comparing the prices to the previous year.
• In 2021, the highest-priced area to purchase a property was City of Edinburgh and the lowest-priced area was West Dunbartonshire.

Average residential property prices in Scotland over the last 5 years

The average property price in 2021 was £201,267. This is an increase of 6.6 per cent on the average property price in 2020. The average property price in 2021 was the highest in the 5 years and across the whole time series.

Comparing the average house price in 2017 with 2021, house prices have increased by 16.8  per cent from £172,263 to £201,267.

Chart 1: Average residential property price, 2017 to 2021, Scotland

Chart 2: Average residential property price, by month, 2017 to 2021, Scotland

Average residential property prices in Local Authorities

In 2021, the highest-priced area to purchase a property was City of Edinburgh, where the average price was £293,203. In contrast, the lowest-priced area to purchase a property was West Dunbartonshire, where the average price was £133,149.

Volume of residential property sales in Scotland over the last 5 years

The volume of residential property sales in 2021 was 117,370. This is the highest volume of sales when compared to the previous 5 years. This is an increase of 38 per cent on the previous year where the volume of sales was 85,119.

Chart 3: Volume of residential property sales by year, Scotland, 2017 to 2021

Chart 4: Volume of residential property sales by month, Scotland, 2017 to 2021

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[1] Average Price is calculated using the arithmetic mean which is different from the geometric mean used in the UK House Price Index. See the following link for the key differences https://kb.ros.gov.uk/using-our-services/our-property-data/hpi-and-house-price-statistics-comparison.