- 5.9% annual rate dwarfs England and Wales’ growth of 0.7%
- New peak average house prices set in nine of 32 local authorities
- Biggest monthly increase in over a decade at 1.6%
- 4.8% house price growth in Edinburgh, accounting for over half the monthly increase
Annual house price growth in Scotland is now over eight times the rate of England and Wales, including London and the South East, where prices have fallen. In the year to the end of January the latest figures show the average price increased 5.9%, by far the fastest of any UK region. The average property is now worth £179,448, up £10,000 on a year ago. The increase is helped by a particularly strong month in which prices rose 1.6%. Other than the 9.6% spike in March 2015 ahead of the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax introduction, this is the biggest increase since February 2007 at the height of the last housing boom. The latest figures show the average house increased by £2,800 in the first month of this year alone.
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: “We should welcome the fact that the Scottish market is performing so well. It reflects strong fundamentals and some very attractive areas for buyers. We should also be aware, though, that while we can’t say exactly how much of rising prices is down to a tight availability, it’s a pressing and continuing problem.”
Download the Scottish House Price Index (January 2018) here.