Scots house prices drop again amid UK increase
17th May 2016

UK house prices rose by 9.0% in the year to March, led largely by London and the South East and East of England, but Scotland showed a sharp decline of 6.1% in the same period, according to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics released today (May 17).

Much of Scotland’s price drop, compared to only 0.1% year on year to February, could be attributed to the one-off anomaly of last year’s replacement of stamp duty by land and buildings transaction tax there but is still against a background of stagnant figures for the 12 months previous.

In Wales, prices increased by 2.1%, in Northern Ireland by 6.4% and the figure for England of 10.1% includes 13% for London, 12.2% in the South East and 12.1% in the East. Prices in North East England remained static with all other regions showing some increase.

Within the overall figures, the average house price for first time buyers increased in the same period by 9.7%, as against 7.7% to February, and now stands at £220,000 and for existing owners, the annual rise of 8.7%, compared with 7.6% to February gives an average price of £345,000.