New figures show increase in Scottish house prices and sales volume in 2017

New report reveals East Renfrewshire and Edinburgh continue to have the highest average house prices

The average cost of a home in Scotland rose by 4 per cent last year, new figures show.

Statistics released by Registers of Scotland (ROS) this week revealed the typical cost of a residential property in 2017 was £172,779.

This was up more than £6,000, or 4 per cent, on the £166,062 recorded for the previous year.

“Average prices have been following a generally upward trend since 2012,” the report notes. The ROS survey for 2017 also reveals a 4.2 per cent increase in the volume of Scottish property sales, compared to 2016, with 103,617 total sales.

Sales volumes have also been on an upward trajectory since 2011, increasing every year since then.

A regional breakdown of the figures shows that East Renfrewshire and Edinburgh continued to have the highest average house prices last year at £252,870 and £249,651 respectively.

The largest annual changes were in South Lanarkshire and Glasgow, with increases of 8.6 per cent and 7.8 per cent respectively. East Lothian and the Western Isles experienced the largest jump in sales volumes between 2016 and 2017, both posting increases at more than 16 per cent.

Edinburgh and Glasgow had the highest total number of sales, more than 12,000 each, in 2017.

Just three local authorities reported decreases in the number of sales going through last year – Clackmannanshire, Midlothian and Dundee.

Overall, the value of the Scottish property market increased by 8.5 per cent in a year, to £17.9 billion, the study reveals.

It was reported last month that property in the hands of the baby boomer generation has risen to £41.2bn in value, growing by a record £842 million in the past year.

Experts have warned that action is needed to free up housing and help pensioners move out of large family homes.

Failure to do so will, according to experts, prevent a generation of younger buyers from buying a family home similar in size to their parents’ property, while failure to incentivise downsizing may be causing the market to stagnate.

According to data from financial specialists, the value of property owned by those over 65 has risen 42 per cent since 2010.

0 Prices and sales rose by 4 per cent