Walker Fraser Steele: Scottish house prices up 9.6%

Scottish property prices rose by 9.6% on average in the year to February, according to Walker Fraser Steele’s Scotland House Price Index.

Month-on-month, Scottish house prices rose by 1.1% to reach £204,782.

On a regional basis annually, prices in South Ayrshire rose by the greatest margin up 22.5%, while property prices in South Lanarkshire increased by the largest amount month-on-month, up 4%.

Average property price in Scotland increased by 9% in January

The data shows that 30 of the 32 Scottish local authority areas have seen prices increase over the last 12 months.

Monthly sales volumes exceeded those of the last six years.

Alan Penman, business development manager at Walker Fraser Steele, said: “This month’s report is a very clear statement about the resilience of the Scottish housing market.

“The average house price in Scotland at the end of February 2021 stands at £204,782. This is some £18,000, or 9.6%, higher than at the end of February 2020.

“This level of sustained price growth underlines how well the property market continues to perform in comparison to other areas of the economy.

“To understand why Scotland has enjoyed such a period of growth, we need to acknowledge the impact of the monetary, fiscal, public health and political actions of recent times.

“Demand, which had been suppressed by Brexit, has been injected into a market of historically low interest rates.

“This has supported buyers’ affordability since 2008.

“Lockdowns have fuelled people’s willingness to make lifestyle and life-stage changes and the injection of fiscal support, in the form of the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) holiday, has further supported buyers’ ability and desire to move home.

“We now also have the return of higher LTV lending and an increasingly competitive mortgage market which will in the coming months offer more welcome support to the market.

“It will be interesting to see if Holyrood’s decision to end the LBTT holiday on 1st April this year negatively impacts the market compared to the rest of the UK where an extension to stamp duty has been granted until after the summer.

“With its support, we have seen the market in Scotland perform well.”