Scotland's house prices have increased by nearly 8%

The total value of house sales in Scotland during the last decade broke through the £140billion barrier, reflecting continued improvement in the market.

House prices increased by nearly 8% over the period from April 2007 to March 2017. The average value in 2007-08 was £154,810, while in 2016-17 it hit £166,681.

These figures have just been published by the Registers of Scotland (RoS) in its latest 10-year property market report.

Sheenagh Adams, Keeper of the RoS, said the past 10 years had been an eventful period for the Scottish property market.

She explained: "The decade was characterised by the dramatic fall of 2008 and subsequent recovery. Whilst residential house price averages increased by 7.7% during this time, the total value of the market over the decade, at £143.4billion, represents a reduction of around £5billion on the previous 10-year period."

RoS said that, from the lowest point in the market in 2009-10 to 2016-17, the average price rose by 10% from £151,490.

East Renfrewshire had the greatest increase in average price when comparing 2015-16 with 2016-17, up 7.9% from £224,044 to £241,817.

Over the 10 years, the highest rise in average price was also in East Renfrewshire, with an increase of 17.4% from £206,041.

The City of Edinburgh held the highest average price across most of the decade, with the exception of only two years. 

In 2013-14, both Aberdeenshire and East Renfrewshire surpassed the capital with average prices of £218,088 and £217,515 respectively, as compared with £216,936 in the City of Edinburgh. Then, In 2016-17, East Renfrewshire recorded an average price of £241,817, compared to the City of Edinburgh at £237,441.

Looking at the Scottish volume of sales, over the five years since the 10-year low of 70,510 in 2011-12, the figure had risen by 42.2%. Volumes in 2016-17 were the highest since 2007-08.

Glasgow City local authority area had the highest volumes across the decade, with 105,118 sales accounting for 11.6% of the market. The City of Edinburgh was second with 101,117 sales.

Meanwhile, RoS said the City of Edinburgh’s local authority area consistently held the biggest share of the £1million-plus market across the decade, with 747 sales in this price bracket - just over half of the all-Scotland high-value figure.

Aberdeen City was the local authority area with the next biggest share, with 122 sales over the decade.

RoS business development and information director Kenny Crawford said: “The Scottish property market is a significant component of the Scottish economy. In 2016-17, the total value of residential sales alone was £16.7billion - an increase of 1% when compared with 2015-16."