New figures show mixed market in Scotland

Agency sales figures and data from the Registers of Scotland show a surge in the value of property sold north of the border so far this year, but with a dip in transaction volumes.

Registers of Scotland says the average house price from January to the end of March was £173,830, the highest figure recorded for any quarter since RoS began compiling quarterly statistics in 2003. 

This represented a 13.3 per cent rise in prices in the fourth quarter of 2014-15.

There was, however, a decrease in the number of sales for the second consecutive quarter, with total volume of sales standing at 16,946, a decrease of 4.7 per cent on the same quarter in the previous year.

Edinburgh is the most expensive place to buy, with an annual price rise of 21.4 per cent taking the average price to £260,647. The city also recorded the highest volume of sales, with 2,123 and accounted for Scotland’s largest market value.

CKD Galbraith’s figures roughly parallel these trends and Simon Brown, the agency’s partner and head of residential sales, says relatively high demand has prompted rising prices in many areas of the country.

“Last year was a time of steady growth, despite some uncertainty around the referendum period. This growth has continued into 2015. Although the introduction of the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax created a slight spike in high end sales at the very start of the year, this will be more readily seen in the next quarter’s statistics” he says.