UK house prices rose by an average of 4.1% on an annual basis, taking the average property value to £215,847, according to March’s edition of the UK House Price Index (UK HPI). On a monthly basis, house prices have fallen by 0.6% across the UK since February 2017. 

Country Breakdown

In England, the March data shows an annual price increase of 4.4%, which takes the average property value to £232,530. Monthly house prices have fallen by 0.6% since February 2017.

Wales experienced an annual price increase of 4.3%, which takes the average property value to £147,746. Monthly house prices have risen by 1.4% since February 2017.

Price rises in London continue to lag behind the country average, with an annual price increase of just 1.5%, taking the average property value to £471,742. Monthly house prices have fallen by 1.5% since February 2017.

UK Property Transaction statistics showed that in March 2017 the total number of seasonally adjusted property transactions completed in the UK with a value of £40,000 or above has remained at a similar level for the last three months.

In Scotland, the average price of a property in March 2017 was £137,139. This is an increase of 0.7% on March in the previous year but a decrease of 1.0% when compared to the previous month.

Property Sales Volumes

Residential sales in Scotland rose by 2.0% in January 2017 to 6,239 compared to January of the previous year, however this figure was 25.4% lower than sales during the previous month. In comparison, sales volumes fell on annual basis by 16.6% in England, 2.3% in Wales and 28.5% in Northern Ireland.

“Average prices this March showed a modest increase when compared to March 2016 and there have been increases in every month since March 2016 when compared with the same month of the previous year,” commented Kenny Crawford, Scotland business development and information director for Registers of Scotland.

“Sales volumes figures for January 2017 showed an increase in Scotland of 2.0% when compared with January 2016. This is also up by 0.8% when compared with January 2015 and up by 34.1% when compared with January 2013, but down by 3.9% when compared with January 2014.”

Regional Variances

There were 746 property sales in Edinburgh City, making it the top local authority in terms of sales volume. The other regions in the top five were, Glasgow City (700 sales), South Lanarkshire (396 sales), Fife (391 sales) and North Lanarkshire (305 sales).

The biggest fall in house prices was once again seen in Aberdeen City, with a 6.3% drop during March 2017 compared to the previous year, taking the average price to £163,050. The biggest annual price increase was in East Dunbartonshire, where the average price increased by 10.7% to £196,332.

Across Scotland, all property types except flats showed an increase in average price in March 2017 when compared with the same month in the previous year. Semi-detached properties showed the biggest increase, rising by 2.3% to £144,261, while flats decreased by 0.1% to £98,012.

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