Property prices in Scotland increased by 0.6% month on month in September, taking the average price above £170,000 for the first time since the vote to leave the European Union.
It means the average property price increased by more than £1,000 compared to August to £170,762 and on an annual basis prices are up 2.5% since September 2015 when the average was £166,622.
The data from the latest Your Move/Acadata house price index also shows that there was strong growth at both the top and bottom of the Scottish housing market in the year with three areas seeing property price growth of more than 10% in the last year.
House prices in East Dunbartonshire grew by 10.3% to reach an average of £229,240 while prices in East Renfrewshire increased by 10.2% to £245,122 and prices in East Ayrshire increased by 10.1% to £119,991. Month on month Dundee recorded the biggest house price growth at 4.5%.
Edinburgh remains the most expensive place to buy property in Scotland with prices up 3.1% between August and September to reach £250,477. Yearly growth was 8.9%, which is equivalent to an extra £20,000 on the average Edinburgh house price.
Na h-Eileanan Siar remains the cheapest place to purchase property in Scotland, despite growth of 7.6% in the past year the average house price on the islands is now £102,455.
While most areas of Scotland saw house prices grow, some areas did experience a softening in prices. The Scottish Borders saw prices fall by 4.7% and in Aberdeenshire they fell by 4.2% year on year but overall only seven of the 32 local authority areas of Scotland saw prices drop on a yearly basis.
In Aberdeen, where the property market has been hard hit by falling oil prices, property prices fell by 3.2% and although the downturn seems to be slowing prices are still 12.3% below where they were in September 2015.
Clackmannanshire saw the biggest increase in sales with growth of 35% year on year. The data also shows that houses were the only property type to grow in popularity in the third quarter of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015 with transactions up 3.9%.
Sales of semi-detached homes fell by 4.2%, detached homes sales were down 3.3% and flats were down by 1.5%.
‘The Scottish housing market continues to show its resilience, despite facing a number of challenges in recent months. Tax changes earlier this year prompted many buyers to bring their house purchases forward, while the uncertainly surrounding Brexit could have shocked the market, but the overall picture remains very positive,’ said Christine Campbell, Your Move managing director in Scotland.
According to 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, while some areas face a specific set of challenges due to the ripple effect caused by the troubles of the oil industry, it looks remarkably like business as usual in the rest of Scotland.
‘Transaction levels and house prices are performing well across all other areas of the country, for both high and low value properties,’ he added.
Article published by Propertywire -18th November 2016