The average property price in Scotland rose to £163,360, the highest ever recorded and an increase of 5.8% on the same period in 2009.

This is despite sales volumes being only half of what they were at their peak in 2007. These are the headline figures in the official statistics released today by Registers of Scotland (RoS).

Twenty-eight of Scotland's 32 Local Authority areas saw an increase in average prices with eight of them having returned their highest ever average price. However, East Ayrshire, Eilean Siar, Moray and Perth and Kinross Local Authorities experienced a decrease in average property prices.

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Kenny Crawford, RoS’ Head of Commercial Services, said: "The number of properties sold over the last quarter is up on the same quarter last year by 4.9%, a difference of nearly 1,000 sales but this is still barely half of the number of properties that were changing hands in the busiest days for the property market in 2007. Interestingly, it is the detached and semi-detached properties that have recorded the highest increase in value while the volume of sales has been strongest for semi-detached and flats."

Whilst the City of Edinburgh reached its highest ever average property price at £228,697, up by 9.9% on the same period last year, the average price in the City of Glasgow increased by just 2.9% to £143,255.

The average price increase does not appear to be as a result of a significant increase at the higher end of the price ranges covered by the RoS report. When the number of sales are split into price bands, the pattern since 2007 remains largely unchanged, although overall sales volumes are significantly reduced.

(GK)