Property market highlights:
- Property prices continue to rise, with an 11.7% year-on-year increase in the average price
- Houses and properties with more space continue to be the most popular
- The rising cost of living doesn’t appear to be affecting the property market as yet
Property prices continue to rise, with a 11.7% year-on-year increase in the average price
The average property price in Scotland now sits at £180,822 according to the Registers of Scotland (ROS) February 2022 House Price Index. This is up 11.7% compared to February 2021.
As reported in ROS’s February House Price, East Ayrshire was the area with the largest property price increase compared to the same time last year. East Ayrshire sat at 20.1%, with Aberdeen showing the smallest increase at 0.6%. The Shetlands did record a small decrease in the average selling price, however due to the volume of properties being so low on Shetland the decrease is not likely to be a sign of anything significant happening within that local property market.
The most expensive area of Scotland was the City of Edinburgh, with an average selling price of £315,070 compared to North Ayrshire, which was the cheapest at £119,526.
The continued rise in property prices is driven by very strong demand for properties in most areas since the reopening of the property market, post-lockdown, in July 2020.
In their March 2022 House Price Index, Halifax reported that property prices UK-wide have increased by £43,577 on average since the first lockdown.
Houses and properties with more space continue to be the most popular
One of the main drivers behind the continued rise in property prices is the popularity of houses and properties with more space. With many of us working more flexibly and with a significant proportion of people still working at least partially from home, our properties need to be larger and more flexible to meet the demands of each family. This means that properties with more bedrooms or garden space to allow for a home office are very popular.
ROS noted in their most recent report that the annual house price growth of a detached property was 15.3% compared with flats at 9.6%.
Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre (ESPC) also noted in their March 2022 House Price Report that, in Edinburgh, the highest demand was for three bedroom houses in Cramond, Barnton and Cammo, where buyers paid 14.9% over the Home Report Value. They also reported that homes in Midlothian and West Lothian sold the fastest at 9 and 11 days respectively.
The rising cost of living doesn’t appear to be affecting the property market as yet
UK inflation rose to 7% during April, the highest rate it has been for 30 years. In a recent article, the BBC reported that this is driven by the price of fuel, household bills, food, services and more.
At present, however, the rising cost of living doesn’t appear to be affecting the property market. This is likely due to the fact that buyer demand continues to outstrip the volume of properties available for sale.
Halifax did recently report that the cost of living may slow the rate of property price growth this year. However current reports aren’t indicating that this is happening yet.
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