The average price of a residential property in Scotland reached £145,992 in November 2017, according to the latest UK House Price Index. This is a rise of 3.6% compared to November last year, and an increase of 1.1% compared to the previous month.
However, while house prices have continued to rise, there has apparently been a fall in sales numbers. Figures show that 9,323 properties changed hands in September 2017 (the latest month for which figures are available), which is a fall of 2.5% on September 2016 and a decrease of 0.5% on the previous month.
Scotland isn’t alone in seeing sales numbers fall. In England sales volumes fell annually by 14.8%, while Wales and Northern Ireland saw declines of 6.6% and 8.6% respectively.
In Scotland, the top five local authorities in terms of September sales volumes were the City of Edinburgh (1,124 sales), Glasgow City (1,067 sales), Fife (706 sales), South Lanarkshire (595 sales) and North Lanarkshire (451 sales).
“Average prices in Scotland continued their upward trend in November with an increase of 3.6% when compared to November 2016,” commented Registers of Scotland business development and information director Kenny Crawford. “Average prices have been steadily increasing each month since March 2016, when compared with the same month of the previous year.”
“Residential sales volumes decreased in September,” he added. “The annual decrease of 2.5% when compared with September 2016 in Scotland is in the context of greater decreases across the rest of the UK. The cumulative volume of sales for Scotland for the financial year to date – from April to September 2017 – was 54,893. This is an increase of 9.1% on the equivalent year to date position for September 2016.”
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