UK House Price Index Scotland: December 2019

19th February 2020

*the average price of a property in Scotland was £151,603.

*the annual price change of a property in Scotland was 2.2%

*the monthly price change of a property in Scotland was -1.5%

*the index figure for Scotland (January 2015 = 100) was 112.3.

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.

The January 2020 UK HPI will be published at 9.30am on Wednesday 25 March 2020.

Scotland house prices increased by 2.2% in the year to December 2019, down from 2.9% in the year to November 2019. Scotland house prices were growing at the same annual rate as the UK in the year to December 2019. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis average house prices in Scotland fell by 1.5% between November 2019 and December 2019, compared with a fall of 0.9% during the same period a year earlier (November 2018 and December 2018). On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices in Scotland fell by 0.04% between November 2019 and December 2019.

Comparing the provisional volume estimate for October 2018 with the provisional estimate for October 2019, volume transactions increased by 2.7% in Scotland. UK volume transactions fell by 0.2% over the same period.

In Scotland, detached houses showed the biggest increase out of all property types, rising by 5.4% in the year to December 2019 to £266,000. The smallest growth of all property types was the average price of flats and maisonettes, down by 0.1% in the year to December 2019 to £108,000.

House prices increased over the last year in 25 out of the 32 local authority areas. The largest growth (not including Na h-Eileanan Siar) was in Inverclyde, where prices increased by 10.1% in the year to December 2019 to £103,000. The biggest fall was recorded in City of Aberdeen where average prices fell over the year by 3.4% to £147,000.

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.

In Scotland, average prices increased by 2.2% in the year to December 2019 (down from 2.9% in the year to November 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.

In December 2019, the most expensive area to purchase a property was City of Edinburgh, where the average cost was £270,000. In contrast, the cheapest area to purchase a property was East Ayrshire, where the average cost was £94,000.

Sales volumes for Scotland

October 2015 - 9,767

October 2016 - 8,503

October 2017 - 9,047

October 2018 - 9,127

October 2019 - 9,250

Sales volumes for Scotland by local authority

Local authorities October 2019 October 2018

Aberdeenshire 304 402

Angus 187 193

Argyll and Bute 205 192

City of Aberdeen 341 313

City of Dundee 217 236

City of Edinburgh 924 923

City of Glasgow 1,077 1,039

Clackmannanshire 88 92

Dumfries and Galloway 245 237

East Ayrshire 213 162

East Dunbartonshire 209 134

East Lothian 206 189

East Renfrewshire 178 133

Falkirk 291 267

Fife 618 593

Highland 418 441

Inverclyde 106 111

Midlothian 172 176

Moray 134 155

Na h-Eileanan Siar 29 26

North Ayrshire 215 210

North Lanarkshire 528 552

Orkney Islands 33 35

Perth and Kinross 301 293

Renfrewshire 363 356

Scottish Borders 182 203

Shetland Islands 28 26

South Ayrshire 241 229

South Lanarkshire 646 651

Stirling 173 176

West Dunbartonshire 126 120

West Lothian 252 262

Scotland 9,250 9,127

Details published on 19 February 2020 by HM Land Registry.

The full release shows details for England and Wales and other more detailed charts with explanations on the development of the statistics.

See https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry