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This blog post by Garreth Jones, statistician in the land and property data team, will cover the housing market in 2023 and over the last 5 years. All statistics used and our range of data reports can be found on our website.
2023 represented the second lowest annual volume of sales in the last five years. The only year lower than this was 2020, the first year of the pandemic. However, despite a lower turnover in volume, the price achieved for those properties has generally increased.
Key Messages from 2023:
- The median residential property price in 2023 was £185,000, a 1% increase on 2022.
- Higher median house prices were recorded in 21 out of 32 local authorities in 2023 when comparing with the previous year.
Figure 1: Volume of sales and median residential property sales split by new build residential properties and existing dwellings in Scotland by year, 2019 to 2023
Median residential property prices
Over the last 5 years, median property prices have increased by 19.4% from £155,000 in 2019 to £185,000 in 2023. However, the general housing market has been outperformed by the new build market, which has increased by 26% from £237,973 in 2019 to £299,995 in 2023.
Median residential property prices in Local Authorities
In 2023, the highest-priced area to purchase a property was East Renfrewshire (£287,500), closely followed by East Lothian (£283,611). In contrast, the lowest-priced area to purchase a property was Inverclyde (£102,781).
Volume of residential property sales
Residential property sales are down on last year with a decrease of 9.7% from 103,815 to 93,767.
Volume of residential property sales by funding status
Breaking this down by the ways in which people pay for their property, we can see that cash sales have decreased by 1.5% (from 35,007 to 34,484) and mortgage sales have decreased by 13.8% (from 68,808 to 59,283) against last year.
Figure 2: Volume of residential sales by funding status by year in Scotland, 2019 to 2023
Comparison of urban and rural residential property sales
There has been a 40% price increase for properties in accessible rural locations in the past 5 years with remote rural locations also benefiting from a 30% price increase. The median price for a house in an accessible rural location is £96,473 more than in the rest of Scotland.
| Number of sales in 2023 | Median price | Change in price over past 5 years | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accessible Rural | 13,932 | £266,473 | +40% |
| Remote Rural | 4,993 | £212,000 | +30% |
| Rest of Scotland | 74,884 | £170,000 | +13% |
Annual Property Market Report
The 2023-24 annual property market report is due to be published in late June 2024. This is a long-term statistical review of the Scottish property market. To ensure you don’t miss our latest data reports sign up to receive email alerts.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please get in touch via email Garreth.Jones@ros.gov.uk.