- Annual house price growth highest in UK at 4.8%
- More than double the growth rate in England and Wales
- Transactions also up on 2016 and 2015
- Scottish Borders lead monthly growth and grow 9.7% annually
The market in Scotland continues to defy the slowdown elsewhere in Britain. Prices grew for the seventh month in a row in August – rising strongly by 0.5%. Annual growth in Scotland now stands at 4.8%, compared to 2.1% in England and Wales. The Scottish market is outpacing every other region in Britain. Only the East of England, up 4.5% annually, comes close to growth seen in the north of the UK. While prices in London are down 0.7% on an annualised basis. The changes leave the average house price in Scotland at the end of August at £176,876, up from £168,726 in the same month last year.
Alan Penman, business development manager for Walker Fraser Steele, one of Scotland’s oldest firms of chartered surveyors and part of the LSL group of companies, said: “Scotland’s housing market is now leading Britain and that simply reflects very strong fundamentals. It’s always dangerous to speak too soon but the market currently looks in good shape.”