Average house prices in Scotland continued to rise during December, although the increase was a very modest £63, according to research from Walker Fraser Steele.
Average prices have now reached £225,520, which is some £14,800 – or 7.0% – higher than a year earlier.
This sets another new record average price for Scotland, the tenth to occur in 2022.
Scott Jack, regional development director at Walker Fraser Steele, said: “If we step back for a moment and look at 2022 overall, it has been a record year for housing transactions in Scotland – all the more significant if we consider the performance of house prices over the last couple of years which have seemingly inexorably climbed.
“When we consider the rise in prices since the start of lockdowns back in March 2020, the average house price over that period has risen £41,700 (or 22.7 per cent).
“If we look at consumer prices measured by the CPIH over the same period, house prices have comfortably outperformed price growth elsewhere.
“Our data looks at the entire market which includes the significant volume of cash purchases north of the border and supports the view expressed in the RICS Residential Market Survey for December and January which indicated that prices are generally remaining resilient in Scotland.
“A frequent observation is that there remains a lack of suitable properties coming on to the market, which creates competition for those that are available, which helps in turn support current price levels.”
In December 2022, 29 of the 32 local authority areas in Scotland saw their average prices rise above the levels of twelve months earlier, the same number as in November.
The three areas where values fell over the year were, in descending order, Aberdeen City (-5.4%), Scottish Borders (-3.0%) and Stirling (-0.7%).
Aberdeen City has now fallen by nine places over the year to 24th in terms of its ranking of average prices compared to the other 31 local authorities in Scotland.
Aberdeen City, flats have experienced the largest fall in value, from an average £120k in December 2021 to £105k one year later.
The area with the highest annual increase in average house prices in December 2022 was the Shetland Islands, where average values have increased by 19.5% over the year.
In the Shetland Islands, detached property values have seen the highest rise over the year, from £190k in December 2021 to £240k twelve months later, but this is based on a relatively small number of transactions.
On the mainland, the highest annual increase was in East Renfrewshire, up by 17.7%. This increase has been assisted by the sale of a £2.3m detached property in Giffnock, some nine miles to the south of Glasgow.
The property is the most expensive home to have been sold in East Renfrewshire in the last five years.
In December 2022, Scotland’s average house price rose in the month by just £63, or 0.0%.
In December 2022, 17 of the 32 Local Authority areas in Scotland experienced rising prices in the month, which is the same number as in November.
Of the 17 local authorities with price increases, 8 are in the top 16 areas when ranked by price, with 9 being in the lower half of the market.
The distribution of those with price rises is therefore evenly matched between the higher- and lower-priced areas in Scotland.
Scott continued: “If we focus specifically on December, we can see the impact of the rising cost of borrowing. The average house price in Scotland continued to rise during December, although the increase was a modest £63.
“Average prices have now reached £225,520, which is some £14,800 – or 7.0% – higher than a year earlier. This sets another new record average price for Scotland, the tenth to occur in 2022.”
