The latest UK House Price Index (UK HPI) states the average price of a property in March was £146,009 – 0.5% more when compared with February but 6.7% more when compared with March last year.
Across the UK, the average price of a house in March was £224,144, a 4.2% rise compared with 2017 and virtually unchanged when compared to the previous month.
The largest price increases were in Falkirk, City of Edinburgh and West Lothian, where average prices increased by 12.2% to £123,800, 12.5% to £252,992 and 12% to £153,550. Decreases were recorded in Aberdeen City and Inverclyde where prices fell by 2.1% to £160,464) and 1.4% to £97,924 respectively.
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However, the volume of residential sales in Scotland in January 2018 was 5,909 – a 7.9% fall on January last year. This compares with annual decreases in sales volumes of 12% in England and 7.3% in Wales in January, as well as a 12.4% fall during Q1 2018 for Northern Ireland.
Registers of Scotland Business Development and Information Director, Kenny Crawford, said: "Average prices in Scotland continued their upward trend in March with an increase of 6.7 per cent when compared to March 2017. Average prices have been increasing each month since March 2016, when compared with the same month of the previous year.
"Residential sales volumes decreased in January. The annual decrease of 7.4 per cent when compared with January 2017 in Scotland is in the context of large decreases across the rest of the UK. The cumulative volume of sales for Scotland for the financial year to date – from April 2017 to January 2018 – was 87,097. This is an increase of 5.7 per cent on the equivalent year to date position in the previous financial year 2016/17."
(LM/MH)
