The average Scottish house price reached £143,282 in June this year, which is 4.6% higher than the same month the previous year and 2.7% higher than May 2016, according to the latest UK House Price Index (UK HPI).

Across the UK as a whole, the average property price was £213,927, which was an increase of 8.7% over the year, and an increase of 1.0% when compared to the previous month.

Sales Affected by Tax Changes

During the month of April 2016, there were a total of 6,665 residential sales in Scotland, a fall of 16% over the previous year. The total is also substantially lower than the 11,017 sales that took place in March 2016. However Registers of Scotland explains that this spike in March and subsequent decrease in April was expected, because of the changes in Land and Buildings Transaction Tax that came into effect on 1st April 2016 for additional dwellings, such as second homes and buy-to-let properties.

The City of Edinburgh saw the biggest rise in prices (11.7%), taking the average house price to £240,978. The biggest decrease was in the City of Aberdeen, where prices fell by 6.8% to £178,069.

Detached properties apparently showed the biggest increase of 6.2% to £246,291, although all property types experienced a rise in average prices to some degree when compared to the previous year.

Additional Statistics

Other key statistics contained in the Index include:

• The average price for a new build property in June 2016 was £182,481, an increase of 3.0% on the previous year, while the average price for an existing resold property was £141,743, an increase of 4.9% per cent on the previous year.
• The average price for a property purchased by a former owner occupier was £171,657, an increase of 5.5% on the previous year.
• The average price for property purchased by a first time buyer was £115,877, an increase of 3.7% on the previous year.
• The average price for a cash sale was £132,248, an increase of 4.3% on the previous year, while the average price for property purchased with a mortgage was £148,379, an increase of 4.8% on the previous year.

Other Areas of the UK

According to the UK HPI, England experienced a higher average price rise over the year than Scotland, rising by 9.3% to an average of £229,383. However, on a monthly basis, the increase was less than in Scotland, with prices rising by only 0.8% since May 2016.

The increases seen in Wales were more in line with those witnessed in Scotland, at 4.9%, with the price of an average residential property sitting at £145,238. Monthly house prices rose by 1.2% since May 2016.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, London saw the biggest annual price increase (12.6%), which took the average property value to £472,204. Monthly house prices rose by 0.2% since May 2016.

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