National statistics

UK House Price Index Scotland: April 2019

Published 19 June 2019

Applies to England and Scotland

1. Headline statistics for April 2019

the average price of a property in Scotland was

£150,825

the annual price change of a property in Scotland was

1.6%

the monthly price change of a property in Scotland was

0.7%

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

111.8

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 2019 UK HPI will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 17 July 2019. See the calendar of release dates.

Glasgow City and North Lanarkshire local authority boundary change

On 1 April 2019, an area of land was transferred from Glasgow City local authority area to North Lanarkshire. See the Glasgow City Council Area and North Lanarkshire Council Area (Cardowan by Stepps) Boundaries Amendment Order 2018 for more information.

2. Economic statement

Scotland house prices increased by 1.6% in the year to April 2019, down from 3.5% in the year to March 2019. Scotland house prices were growing faster than the UK annual rate of 1.4% in the year to April 2019. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis average house prices in Scotland increased by 0.7% between March 2019 and April 2019, compared with a rise of 2.6% during the same period a year earlier (March 2018 and April 2018). On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in Scotland decreased by 0.9% between March 2019 and April 2019.

The UK Property Transaction Statistics showed that on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, in the 3 months to April 2019 the number of transactions on residential properties with a value of £40,000 or greater in Scotland was 19,730. This is down 0.4% compared with the 3 months to April 2018.

In Scotland, all property types showed an increase in average prices in April 2019 when compared with the same month in the previous year. Detached houses showed the biggest increase, rising by 2.6% in the year to April 2019 to £259,000. The smallest increase of all property types was for flats and maisonettes, with an increase of 0.1% in the year to April 2019 to £108,000.

House prices increased over the last year in 24 out of 32 local authority areas. The biggest price increase was in Stirling, where prices increased by 8.4% in the year to April 2019 to £192,000. The biggest fall was recorded in City of Aberdeen, where average prices fell over the year by 6.2% to £150,000.

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

A chart showing the annual price change for Scotland over the past 5 years.

In Scotland, the average prices increased by 1.6% in the year to April 2019 (down from 3.5% in the year to March 2019).

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 2019 April 2018 Difference
Aberdeenshire £178,580 £189,146 -5.6%
Angus £148,241 £140,080 5.8%
Argyll and Bute £143,055 £139,634 2.5%
City of Aberdeen £150,173 £160,036 -6.2%
City of Dundee £121,277 £120,118 1.0%
City of Edinburgh £259,433 £254,391 2.0%
City of Glasgow £131,596 £125,418 4.9%
Clackmannanshire £128,671 £120,058 7.2%
Dumfries and Galloway £123,335 £126,637 -2.6%
East Ayrshire £94,037 £93,065 1.0%
East Dunbartonshire £212,535 £200,541 6.0%
East Lothian £227,605 £220,373 3.3%
East Renfrewshire £225,852 £232,711 -2.9%
Falkirk £120,301 £119,682 0.5%
Fife £129,352 £132,439 -2.3%
Highland £166,198 £158,972 4.5%
Inverclyde £101,505 £96,888 4.8%
Midlothian £188,087 £176,030 6.8%
Moray £149,976 £151,866 -1.2%
Na h-Eileanan Siar £116,285 £104,129 11.7%
North Ayrshire £107,008 £99,365 7.7%
North Lanarkshire £106,615 £104,244 2.3%
Orkney Islands £145,984 £136,932 6.6%
Perth and Kinross £185,126 £179,215 3.3%
Renfrewshire £120,726 £117,519 2.7%
Scottish Borders £148,902 £146,577 1.6%
Shetland Islands £165,191 £167,166 -1.2%
South Ayrshire £132,174 £131,702 0.4%
South Lanarkshire £125,242 £123,252 1.6%
Stirling £191,654 £176,841 8.4%
West Dunbartonshire £100,368 £102,566 -2.1%
West Lothian £160,267 £154,348 3.8%
Scotland £150,825 £148,427 1.6%

Average price by local authority for Scotland

A heat map showing the average price by local authority for Scotland.

In April 2019, the most expensive area to purchase a property was City of Edinburgh, where the average cost of a property was £259,000. In contrast, the cheapest area to purchase a property was East Ayrshire where the average cost of a property was £94,000.

3.2 Average price change by property type

Average price change by property type for Scotland

Property type April 2019 April 2018 Difference
Detached £259,092 £252,406 2.6%
Semi-detached £158,328 £154,792 2.3%
Terraced £126,714 £123,751 2.4%
Flat or maisonette £107,906 £107,790 0.1%
All £150,825 £148,427 1.6%

4. Sales volumes

The amount of time between the sale of a property and the registration of this information varies. It typically ranges between 2 weeks and 2 months but can be longer. Volume figures for the most recent 2 months are not yet at a reliable level for reporting, so they are not included in the report. Published transactions for recent months will increase as later registered transactions are incorporated into the index.

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 2019 February 2018
Aberdeenshire 210 215
Angus 116 118
Argyll and Bute 95 94
City of Aberdeen 228 209
City of Dundee 113 106
City of Edinburgh 570 651
City of Glasgow 631 608
Clackmannanshire 46 56
Dumfries and Galloway 134 142
East Ayrshire 113 107
East Dunbartonshire 86 108
East Lothian 110 98
East Renfrewshire 81 83
Falkirk 148 144
Fife 327 335
Highland 247 263
Inverclyde 66 74
Midlothian 92 89
Moray 108 93
Na h-Eileanan Siar 26 24
North Ayrshire 130 118
North Lanarkshire 344 336
Orkney Islands 27 22
Perth and Kinross 172 193
Renfrewshire 182 204
Scottish Borders 107 110
Shetland Islands 21 20
South Ayrshire 124 106
South Lanarkshire 392 355
Stirling 87 97
West Dunbartonshire 77 63
West Lothian 177 165
Scotland 5,387 5,406

Note: The ‘Difference’ column has been removed from this table as the latest month’s data are not yet complete.

The estimate for February 2019 is calculated based on around 85% of the final registered transactions. The number of property transactions for February 2019 will increase as more transactions are incorporated into the index.

Comparing the provisional volume estimate for February 2018 with the provisional estimate for February 2019, volume transactions increased by 1.9% in Scotland.

UK Property Transaction Statistics published by HM Revenue & Customs (which differ in coverage but are more complete for this period) report that on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, volume transactions fell by 11.2% in Scotland in the year to February 2019.

4.2 Sales volumes

Sales volumes for Scotland over the past 5 years

Date Sales volumes for Scotland
February 2015 5,113
February 2016 5,507
February 2017 5,816
February 2018 5,406
February 2019 5,387

5. Property status

Transactions involving the creation of a new register, such as new builds, are more complex and need more time to process. This means they can take longer to appear in the land registers. The volume of new build transactions for the most recent two months are not at a reliable level for reporting the breakdown between new build and existing resold property, so they are not included in the report.

New build and existing resold property for Scotland

Property status Average price February 2019 Monthly change Annual change
New build £207,336 1.1% -0.2%
Existing resold property £143,665 -2.8% 0.4%

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 2019 Monthly change Annual change
First time buyer £122,245 1.0% 1.1%
Former owner occupier £180,224 0.5% 2.2%

7. Funding status

Cash and mortgage indicator for Scotland

Funding status Average price April 2019 Monthly change Annual change
Cash £138,972 0.9% 1.5%
Mortgage £156,331 0.7% 1.7%

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