Scottish house sales in 2015 at highest level since 2008: Registers

Scottish residential property sales in 2015 reached their highest level since before the credit crunch, according to statistics published today by Registers of Scotland (RoS).

A total of 97,701 sales took place across Scotland in 2015, the highest annual figure since 2008, and an increase of 4.5% compared to the previous year. Edinburgh took the largest percentage of sales at 12.3%, but Glasgow recorded the bigger rise, up by 12.2% on the previous year to claim 11.9% of the total. Edinburgh also had the highest average price, at £238,036.

The total value of properties sold was £16.5bn, giving an average price of £169,402, 3.6% higher than the 2014 figure of £163,545.

Registers of Scotland's director of commercial services, Kenny Crawford, commented: "The total value of the residential property market continues to make a significant contribution to the Scottish economy. In 2015, the market totalled £16.5bn, an increase of 8.2% on the previous year. The City of Edinburgh property market represented over 17.2% of this figure, bringing in over £2.8bn to the Scottish economy. This is significantly larger than the next biggest property market, Glasgow, with 9.8% of the market at £1.6bn."

The statistics cover all residential sales between £20,000 and £1m, including those that did not involve a mortgage.

Click here to view the full report.