Housing boom as prices rise at five times rest of UK
SCOTLAND’S house prices have increased at five times the rate of the rest of the UK, adding £8,000 to the value of homes in one month.
The average price of a property north of the Border shot up from £138,000 in March to £146,000 in April, a rise of 5.4 per cent and the largest since 2005, figures show.
The spike defies the trend elsewhere in Britain, which has seen a slowdown since Brexit, rising only 1.6 per cent.
The UK House Price Index also shows that Scottish property values increased by 6.8 per cent between April this year and April 2016, with an average of £145,734.
That compares to the UK market as a whole, which saw an increase of only 5.6 per cent over the same period, and 1.6 per cent in the weeks between March and April.
Yet Scottish property prices were still typically less than the UK as a whole, where a house or flat will cost you on average £220,094.
Richard Snook, of accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers, said: ‘In Scotland, prices surged by £8,000. This is the biggest monthly gain since this series began in 2005.
‘This increase goes against the pattern of slowing growth since summer 2016, as average UK prices leapt by £3,500 in the month from £216,600 in March to £220,100 in April. These figures go against the trend of a Brexit-related slowdown we predicted but remain consistent with our guidance of 2-5 per cent growth in 2017.’
The number of homes sold in Scotland was also higher than that in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In February, the number of residential sales north of the Border was 5,662, a 2.8 per cent increase on the same month last year.
This compares with annual decreases in sales volumes of 18.2 per cent in England, 8.8 per cent in Wales and 28.5 per cent in Northern Ireland.
It is the third consecutive month in which sales in Scotland, when compared to the corresponding month the previous year, have increased while the rest of the UK has declined.
Registers of Scotland business development director John King said: ‘Average prices in April showed the highest year-on-year increase since March 2015, when the average price increased by 10.4 per cent compared to the year before.
‘Sales figures for February showed an increase in Scotland of 2.8 per cent compared with February 2016. This is also up by 10.7 per cent compared with February 2015 and up by 32.1 per cent compared with February 2013.’
Detached homes showed the biggest increase, rising by 8 per cent to an average £252,492 and the average price in April for property bought by a first-time buyer was £117,556.
Vendors in Glasgow sold more properties than anywhere else, with 722 homes changing hands in April, compared to Edinburgh, where 562 were sold. There were 356 sales in Fife, 356 in North Lanarkshire and in South Lanarkshire home owners handed over the keys to 313 properties.
A Registers of Scotland spokesman said: ‘A number of factors could have influenced this increase. We won’t know if this increase is a true reflection of the market or if it has been influenced by other factors until revised data is available.’