As a result of the house price growth, the average Scottish house price in January was at £215,388, which is a rise of 1.2%, or £2,572, from the previous month of December 2021.
This is the highest monthly growth rate since August 2021, and sets a further record average price for Scotland – providing an additional indication of the general upward pressure on prices.
Read more: Average Scottish house prices reach record high.
Scott Jack, regional development director at Walker Fraser Steele, said that the annual rate has actually trended down over the three months prior to December 2021.
“What we are seeing in this return to growth is that people are still living, moving, buying and selling in the aftermath of the pandemic and the ‘lifestyle’ changes it brought about. Working from home has encouraged many homebuyers to move to larger premises which can accommodate a different way of living and working. Many have been in search of more outdoor space too – the so-called ‘Race for Space’,” Jack said.
“The issue here is that while there is a high demand for such homes, the supply is limited, so there continues to be strong competition for the properties that do come on to the market, with robust price increases as a result.”
It was also found that while the growth rate in Scotland trails that of Wales by 1.4%, it is still higher than the average 7.3% in England and Wales overall.
Read more: UK house prices – the latest.
The report also took note of the number of monthly transactions in Scotland greater than or equal to £750k, which is threshold that has been selected as it is the breakpoint at which the highest rate of LBTT becomes payable.
There were 54 sales in excess of £750k in January 2022, and this number is expected to increase as further sales for the month are processed by the Registers of Scotland (RoS).
In 2021, total sales in excess of, or equal to, £750k amounted to 1,097 in number, which could still go up to 1,100 as RoS continues to process late registrations for the year. This is the largest number of high-value sales that have been recorded in a year.
“The reasons for this dramatic increase in top-end sales in 2021 are, as previously discussed, partly to do with the change in preference for larger properties. During the pandemic, the nation was instructed to work from home, which established an appetite for larger properties with areas which could be used as offices and ideally with outdoor facilities,” John Tindale, senior housing analyst at Acadata, said.
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.
