Official figures continue house price upward trend

The average price of a property in Scotland in December 2019 rose by 2.2% compared with the previous year to £151,603, according to the latest provisional statistics from the UK House Price Index (HPI), as reported by Registers of Scotland.

There was a 1.5% fall compared with the previous month, though the UK as a whole saw an increase of 0.3%, with the same 2.2% rise on December 2018.

Provisional figures also show a total of 9,250 residential sales in Scotland in October 2019, up 2.7% on the comparable figure for October 2018, compared with a decrease of 0.8% in both England and Wales, and an increase of 5.0% in Northern Ireland (where figures cover the final quarter of 2019).

Average price increases year on year were recorded in 25 of the 32 local authority areas. The largest mainland increase was in Inverclyde (10.1%), followed by Dumfries & Galloway (6.8%), Falkirk (6.7%) and Argyll & Bute (6.6%), while Aberdeen City again showed the largest decrease (3.4%), followed by East Ayrshire at 1.9%. Local authority estimates are based on a three-month moving average to reduce volatility.

Figures released earlier this week by legal firm Aberdein Considine also showed an average 2.2% price rise in December, with the market performing strongly in the wake of the decisive election result (click here for report).