House prices increased by 1.5% between January and February 2022, and were up 8.2% annually, the latest House Price Index from Walker Fraser Steele shows.
The Index found that a shortage of housing stock is continuing to support prices with the average house price now standing at £218,702.
Private annual rental growth is also at highest rate since records began, encouraging buy-to-let investment.
Scott Jack, regional development director at Walker Fraser Steele, said: “Scotland continues to see record average house price growth with the average price paid for a house in February this year reaching £218,702 – a price £16,600 higher than at the same time last year.
“It continues the trend from January and, on a monthly basis, this means prices in February rose by 1.5% – the highest increase in a month since August last year.
“As a piece of context, in February this year, all the regions in England and Wales established new record average house price levels, but it is fair to say that the Scottish property market has robustly withstood one of the most seismic events in living memory in the past couple of years.
“The reasons for this strong performance remain constant across the UK. We are still seeing the results of people choosing to change the way in which they work and where they choose to do this. While inflation and interest rates are rising (albeit it at different paces), we still enjoy relatively low borrowing costs.
“The supply of desirable property remains constrained so there is a lot of competition for the most desirable property.
“It seems that the pandemic’s impact on our ability to spend, which includes disposable income for socialising and holidays, has meant people have saved for more fundamental things such as a house purchase.
“Also, the rise in house prices during the period means that existing homeowners have benefitted from an increase in the equity in their homes meaning they can move up the ladder.”
