RoS Provides Insight into Scottish Housing Market

A new report from Registers of Scotland (RoS) has revealed that the total value of the residential sales market in Scotland from 2006 to 2016 amounted to just over £148.2 billion.

The 10-year property market report gives an interesting insight into trends in the land and property market over the decade's peak years, and in the wake of the economic downturn.

Key findings from the report include:

• a 16.9% increase in the number of residential properties sold for over a million pounds,
• a drop of 36.9% in the number of sales being registered with a mortgage, and
• an increase in commercial leases, from 908 in 2006-07 to 3,026 in 2015-16.

"The Scottish property market is a significant contributor to the Scottish economy,” commented Kenny Crawford, RoS' director of commercial services. “In 2015-16, the total value of residential sales alone was £16.7 billion.”

"We've also seen an increase in average house prices over the decade, up 19.7% between 2006-07 and 2015-16, from £139,207 to £166,624,” he added. “This compares to a rise in median gross annual earnings of 22.6% between 2006 and 2015."

RoS has also recently published the first single official UK House Price Index (UK HPI), in conjunction with the Office for National Statistics, Land Registry for England and Wales and Land & Property Services Northern Ireland. The UK HPI will become a regular monthly publication, and this first edition covers statistics up to April 2016.

"This publication is the culmination of a new collaborative approach to the delivery of more accurate property figures for the UK by the key producers of official house price statistics in the UK and we are delighted to be offering it as part of our suite of statistical publications,” explained Kenny Crawford.

Key statistics from the UK HPI relating to Scotland show that:

• The average price of a house in April was £138,445. This compares to a UK average of £208,974.
• The average price of a residential property in April 2016 increased by 3.3% when compared with the previous year and by 1.5% when compared with the previous month.
• The biggest price change over the last year was in East Renfrewshire where the average price increased by 6.1% to £200,718.
• Residential sales volumes in Scotland in February 2016 were 5,507, an increase of 7.7% on the previous year. The City of Edinburgh showed the biggest volume of sales in February with 664 sales.
• The average price for a new build property is £188,627, an increase of 6.8% on the previous year, while the average price for an existing resold property is £136,335, an increase of 3.1% on the previous year.
• The average price for a property purchased by a former owner occupier is £165,349, an increase of 4.8% on the previous year. The average price for property purchased by a first time buyer is £112,374, an increase of 1.6% on the previous year.
• The average price for a cash sale is £127,180, an increase of 2.1% on the previous year, while the average price for property purchased with a mortgage is £143,667, also an increase of 3.8% on the previous year.

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