PROPERTY prices in Inverclyde have shot up by more than any other part of Scotland year-on-year, according to a newly-published survey – but a month-on-month slump means the area is still the cheapest place in Scotland to buy a house.
The monthly house price index survey for Scotland, carried out by chartered surveyors Walker Fraser Steele, found the average price of a property in Inverclyde in September was £149,614 – slightly more than £100 less than the next cheapest area, East Ayrshire.
According to Walker Fraser Steele, that compares to a figure of £132,853 in September 2023, making for a year-on-year increase of 12.6 per cent.
That’s a bigger annual increase than any of Scotland’s other 31 local authority areas, with the Shetland Islands seeing the next biggest increase, at 12 per cent.
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Only one other council area – East Lothian – experienced a year-on-year increase in property prices of more than 10 per cent.
However, the flip side of the coin for Inverclyde is that average property prices slumped from August to September, with the September figure representing a 6.0 per cent drop on the August figure of £159,155.
The month-on-month drop in property prices in Inverclyde was the biggest of any Scottish council area, far outstripping the next biggest fall in values, of 3.5 per cent in Midlothian.
Across Scotland as a whole, average property prices in September were up 2.0 per cent year-on-year and were 0.2 per cent higher than in August.
“This is a limited and bumpy recovery to date, with prices up by only 2-3 per cent on a year-on-year basis in recent months.
“The data does not yet reflect any impacts on buyer and seller confidence from the budget, which will become evident over the coming months and it will be interesting to see if mortgage pricing continues to harden as swap rates have risen.
“The Bank of England base rate cut was helpful for affordability and will doubtless ease some home owners’ payments but it is unlikely to provide a significant boost to home buyers.”
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The new statistics were published in the same week that research revealed the number of properties bought for cash in Inverclyde had risen by more than any other area in the UK.
Mortgage broker SPF.co.uk reported a 39.4 per cent rise in the number of properties sold for cash between 2013 and 2023, from 371 to 591.
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