For the seventh time in 12 months, prices hit new high
The average house price in Scotland has increased by 6.2%, or an equivalent of around £12,700, over the last 12 months to March 2022.
The average price paid, £218,992, has set another record for the seventh time in the past 12 months, according to data from the latest Walker Fraser Steele Acadata House Price Index for Scotland.
On a monthly basis, prices in March rose by 0.5%, or close to £1,120. This monthly increase is lower than the revised 1.2% recorded in February, but surpasses the 0.1% that was seen in December 2021, three months earlier.
Scott Jack, regional development director at Walker Fraser Steele, said the lack of good stock coming on to the market appears to keep the house prices up, aside from the significant cost-of-living challenges.
“We cannot know what that means for future performance, but we do know that high inflation makes property an attractive asset for investors when other assets do not offer such great returns. While you might think the future is uncertain, regional markets will perform differently for very specific reasons, driving national averages,” Jack pointed out.
Data also showed that 31 of the 32 local authority areas in Scotland saw their average prices rise over the previous 12 months, one more than in February. The one area that experienced a price fall in March was Aberdeen City, down by 2.9% over the year.
Meanwhile, the area with the highest annual increase in average house prices in March 2022 was Fife, where values have risen by 15.9% over the year.
The average price paid for a property in Fife in March 2022 has been elevated by the sale of an apartment at the Hamilton Grand complex for £2 million. This is the sixth apartment at the Hamilton Grand to be sold in the last 12 months.
On a monthly basis, on the mainland, the largest increase in prices was in Argyll and Bute, where values rose across all property types except for flats.
John Tindale, senior housing analyst at Acadata, said the housing market growth rates appeared to be slowing in March, though house prices are continuing to climb.
He pointed out that house prices in March 2021 had an upward blip, being one month ahead of the termination of the LBTT tax holiday in Scotland on April 01, 2021.
The ending of the tax holiday in April 2021 prompted an increase in the number of transactions that took place in March 2021, as well as an increase in the number of high-value properties sold in the month. This followed as buyers brought forward their actual purchases into March 2021 or even earlier to take advantage of the tax savings available.
“It can therefore be concluded that the cause of the slowdown in annual rates in March 2022 is due to the higher-than-normal values that were current in March 2021, distorting the annual comparison,” Tindale noted.
“We anticipate, other things being equal, that annual rates of house price growth in Scotland will bounce back in April 2022, as the effect of the March 2021 blip begins to decline,” he added.
The Walker Fraser Steele Acadata House Price Index – formerly the Your Move Acadata House Price Index – is produced by Acadata on behalf of Walker Fraser Steele, one of the longest established chartered surveyor brands in Scotland.
It uses the actual prices at which every residential property in Scotland was transacted, including prices for properties bought with cash, using the data provided by Registers of Scotland as opposed to valuation estimates or asking prices.
