This is the first annual decrease in the average price of a property in Scotland since March 2016.

Comparing with the previous month, house prices in Scotland fell by 3.1 per cent between January 2019 and February 2019.

The UK average house price was £226,234, which was an increase of 0.6 per cent on February in the previous year and a decrease of 0.8 per cent on the previous month.

The volume of residential sales in Scotland in December 2018 was 7,392 – a decrease of 8.2 per cent on the original provisional estimate for December 2017.

This compares with decreases of 2.0 per cent in England and 5.1 per cent in Wales, and an increase of 4.3 per cent in Northern Ireland (Quarter 4 – 2018).

Average price increases were recorded in the majority (22) of local authorities, when comparing prices with the previous year.

The biggest price increases were in Midlothian and Perth and Kinross where average prices increased by 9.9 per cent to £185,753 and 8.8 per cent to £192,631 respectively.

The largest decreases were recorded in Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire, where average prices fell by 7.0 per cent to £149,435 and 5.8 per cent to £180,862 respectively.

Local authority estimates are based on a three month moving average to reduce volatility.

Janet Egdell, accountable officer at the Registers of Scotland, said: “The average price of a property in Scotland in February 2019 signalled the first annual decrease since March 2016, falling by 0.2 per cent in the year to February 2019. Prices increased in around two thirds of local authority areas and different property types showed a mixed picture, indicating that the market is highly variable across the country in this time of uncertainty.”

Further information on HPI Scotland by local authority, property type, first time buyers and cash sales can be found in the latest HPI Scotland publication.