- Scotland’s annual house price growth slows to 3.5% but remains second highest of Britain’s regions
- Lack of supply and strong demand drive house price increases across the country
- Midlothian and Stirling lead growth supported by sales of new builds
- Four out of the five local authorities seeing prices decline are on the East Coast
House prices in Scotland dipped marginally in October, falling 0.2%, with the average property value dropping £276. The rate of annual growth also fell, with prices at the end of October 3.5% higher than a year before, against 4.4% last month.
Annual growth in Scotland remains stronger than most other UK regions, however. It’s well above the average for England and Wales as a whole in October, which stood at just 1.3%, and only the South West of England has grown faster (up 4.3% annually). At £175,722 the average price in Scotland is almost £6,000 higher than a year ago.
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: “So far Scotland’s shrugged off the malaise that’s affected many other UK regions. With unemployment edging up and the rate of growth slowing, though, the impact of the provisions in December’s draft budget will be critical in determining whether that continues.”
Download the Scottish House Price Index (October 2017) here.