Official Statistics

UK House Price Index Scotland: April 2018

Published 13 June 2018

Applies to Scotland

1. Headline statistics in April 2018

the average price of a property in Scotland was

£148,952

the annual price change of a property in Scotland was

5.6%

the monthly price change of a property in Scotland was

2.5%

the index figure for Scotland (January 2015 = 100) was

110.3

Estimates for the most recent months are provisional and are likely to be updated as more data is incorporated into the index. Read the revision policies.

Next publication of UK HPI

The May 2018 UK HPI will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 18 July 2018. See the calendar of release dates.

2. Economic statement

Scotland house prices grew by 5.6% in the year to April 2018, down from 6.2% in the year to March 2018. Scotland house prices are growing quicker than the UK annual rate of 3.9% in the year to April 2018.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in Scotland increased by 0.9% between April 2018 and March 2018, compared with an increase of 1.6% during the same period a year earlier.

The UK Property Transaction Statistics for April 2018 showed that on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, in Quarter 1 of 2018, the number of transactions on residential properties with a value of £40,000 or greater was 19,420. This is down 10.0% compared to Quarter 1 of 2017 and down 25.8% compared to Quarter 4 of 2017.

Across Scotland, all property types showed an increase in average price in April 2018 when compared with the same month in the previous year. Terraced and semi-detached properties showed the biggest increase, both rising by 7.4% in the year to April 2018 to £125,000 and £157,000. The average price of flats and maisonettes showed an increase of 4.2% in the year to April to £107,000, the smallest increase of all property types.

House prices have increased over the last year in 28 out of 32 local authority areas. The local authority showing the largest annual growth in the year to April 2018 was West Dunbartonshire, where prices increased by 14.6% to stand at £107,000. This was closely followed by City of Edinburgh where prices increased by 13.2% over the year.

As with other indicators in the housing market, which typically fluctuate from month to month, it is important not to put too much weight on one month’s set of house price data.

3. Price change

3.1 Annual price change

Annual price change for Scotland over the past 5 years

Annual price change for Scotland over the past 5 years

In Scotland, the average price increased by 5.6% in the year to April 2018 (down from 6.2% in the year to March 2018).

Annual price change by local authority for Scotland

Low numbers of sales transactions in some local authorities, such as Orkney Islands, Na h-Eileanan Siar and Shetland Islands, can lead to volatility in the series.

While we make efforts to account for this volatility, the change in price in these local levels can be influenced by the type and number of properties sold in any given period.

Geographies with low number of sales transactions should be analysed in the context of their longer-term trends rather than focusing on monthly movements.

Local authorities April 2018 April 2017 Difference
Aberdeenshire £186,266 £191,737 -2.9%
Angus £140,243 £135,342 3.6%
Argyll and Bute £140,702 £129,660 8.5%
City of Aberdeen £160,419 £164,580 -2.5%
City of Dundee £120,395 £115,509 4.2%
City of Edinburgh £254,251 £224,654 13.2%
City of Glasgow £125,918 £116,534 8.1%
Clackmannanshire £119,838 £112,748 6.3%
Dumfries and Galloway £127,968 £116,857 9.5%
East Ayrshire £93,053 £87,015 6.9%
East Dunbartonshire £207,533 £198,358 4.6%
East Lothian £216,600 £199,162 8.8%
East Renfrewshire £228,247 £206,046 10.8%
Falkirk £121,834 £112,428 8.4%
Fife £132,393 £124,879 6.0%
Highland £159,437 £152,842 4.3%
Inverclyde £95,069 £102,436 -7.2%
Midlothian £177,593 £159,114 11.6%
Moray £151,472 £141,510 7.0%
Na h-Eileanan Siar £100,733 £91,482 10.1%
North Ayrshire £99,447 £95,652 4.0%
North Lanarkshire £105,301 £97,692 7.8%
Orkney Islands £144,503 £144,279 0.2%
Perth and Kinross £178,514 £179,557 -0.6%
Renfrewshire £117,314 £110,699 6.0%
Scottish Borders £146,447 £140,050 4.6%
Shetland Islands £168,766 £152,767 10.5%
South Ayrshire £132,244 £127,209 4.0%
South Lanarkshire £125,690 £120,086 4.7%
Stirling £177,195 £166,305 6.5%
West Dunbartonshire £106,928 £93,278 14.6%
West Lothian £154,785 £140,782 9.9%
Scotland £148,952 £141,091 5.6%

All sales received for registration with an entry date (date of ownership of the property) within the report date range are now allocated to a local authority where previously sales not allocated to a local authority were omitted in the reports. We will monitor the impact of this over the coming months.

Average price by local authority for Scotland

Average price by local authority for Scotland

In April 2018, the most expensive area to live in was City of Edinburgh, where the cost of an average house was £254,000. In contrast, the cheapest area to purchase a property was East Ayrshire, where an average house cost £93,000.

3.2 Average price change by property type

Average price change by property type for Scotland

Property type April 2018 April 2017 Difference
Detached £255,120 £243,908 4.6%
Semi-detached £156,515 £145,763 7.4%
Terraced £124,533 £115,966 7.4%
Flat or maisonette £107,059 £102,707 4.2%
All £148,952 £141,091 5.6%

4. Sales volumes

Due to a period of 2 to 8 weeks between completion and registration of sales, volume figures for the most recent two months are not yet at a reliable level for reporting, so they are not included in the report.

Sales volume data is also available by property status (new build and existing property) and funding status (cash and mortgage) in our downloadable data tables. Transactions involving the creation of a new register, such as new builds, are more complex and require more time to process. Read Revisions to the UK HPI data for more information.

4.1 Sales volumes by local authority

Sales volumes for Scotland by local authority

Local authorities February 2018 February 2017 Difference
Aberdeenshire 212 234 -9.4%
Angus 119 133 -10.5%
Argyll and Bute 90 129 -30.2%
City of Aberdeen 207 204 1.5%
City of Dundee 103 152 -32.2%
City of Edinburgh 633 581 9.0%
City of Glasgow 601 737 -18.5%
Clackmannanshire 56 61 -8.2%
Dumfries and Galloway 141 142 -0.7%
East Ayrshire 106 119 -10.9%
East Dunbartonshire 105 130 -19.2%
East Lothian 94 124 -24.2%
East Renfrewshire 81 92 -12.0%
Falkirk 144 164 -12.2%
Fife 323 370 -12.7%
Highland 252 265 -4.9%
Inverclyde 74 89 -16.9%
Midlothian 86 96 -10.4%
Moray 89 107 -16.8%
Na h-Eileanan Siar 22 25 -12.0%
North Ayrshire 118 148 -20.3%
North Lanarkshire 328 357 -8.1%
Orkney Islands 21 22 -4.5%
Perth and Kinross 190 164 15.9%
Renfrewshire 202 215 -6.0%
Scottish Borders 108 122 -11.5%
Shetland Islands 18 26 -30.8%
South Ayrshire 105 132 -20.5%
South Lanarkshire 342 321 6.5%
Stirling 95 96 -1.0%
West Dunbartonshire 63 89 -29.2%
West Lothian 160 170 -5.9%
Scotland 5,288 5,816 -9.1%

4.2 Sales volumes

Sales volumes for Scotland over the past 5 years

Date Sales volumes for Scotland
February 2014 5,739
February 2015 5,113
February 2016 5,507
February 2017 5,816
February 2018 5,288

5. Property status

New build and existing resold property for Scotland

Property status Average price February 2018 Monthly change Annual change
New build £211,069 3.6% 13.4%
Existing resold property £142,963 -1.3% 6.7%

Note: since the October 2017 release, amendments have been made to our estimation model when calculating our provisional estimate. Find out further information and the impact of this change in methods used to produce the UK HPI.

6. Buyer status

First time buyer and former owner occupier for Scotland

Type of buyer Average price April 2018 Monthly change Annual change
First time buyer £120,912 3.2% 5.7%
Former owner occupier £177,669 1.7% 5.3%

7. Funding status

Cash and mortgage indicator for Scotland

Funding status Average price April 2018 Monthly change Annual change
Cash £137,085 2.7% 5.1%
Mortgage £154,474 2.4% 5.8%

8. Access the data

Download the data as CSV files or access it with our UK HPI tool.

Data revisions

View any revisions to previously published data in the data downloads or find out more about revisions in our guidance About the UK HPI.

9. About the UK House Price Index

The UK House Price Index (UK HPI) is calculated by the Office for National Statistics and Land & Property Services Northern Ireland. Find out about the methodology used to create the UK HPI.

Data for the UK House Price Index is provided by HM Land Registry, Registers of Scotland, The Land & Property Services/Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency and the Valuation Office Agency.

Find out more about the UK House Price Index.

10. Contact for Scotland queries

Anne MacDonald, Land & Property Data Team, Registers of Scotland

Email Anne.MacDonald@ros.gov.uk

Telephone 0131 378 4991