South Lanarkshire house prices dropped in February

House prices dropped by 2.1% in South Lanarkshire in February, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area achieve 3% annual growth.

The average South Lanarkshire house price in February was £159,308, Land Registry figures show – a 2.1% decrease on January.

Over the month, the picture was similar to that across Scotland, where prices decreased 2.6%, but South Lanarkshire underperformed compared to the 1% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in South Lanarkshire rose by £4,700 – putting the area 15th among Scotland’s 32 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The best annual growth in the region was in the Shetland Islands, where property prices increased on average by 24.5%, to £217,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Aberdeen lost 6.6% of their value, giving an average price of £132,000.

Winners and Losers

Owners of detached houses fared worst in South Lanarkshire in February – they dropped 2.6% in price, to £315,888 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 4.1%.

Among other types of property:

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in South Lanarkshire spent an average of £123,800 on their property – £3,400 more than a year ago, and £24,500 more than in February 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £195,300 on average in February – 57.7% more than first-time buyers.

How do property prices in South Lanarkshire compare?

Buyers paid 11.6% less than the average price in Scotland (£180,000) in February for a property in South Lanarkshire. Across Scotland, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £288,000.

The most expensive properties in Scotland were in Edinburgh – £320,000 on average, and twice as much as more than in South Lanarkshire. Edinburgh properties cost 2.8 times as much as homes in Inverclyde (£115,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in 160.

Factfile

Average property price in February

• South Lanarkshire: £159,308
• Scotland:£180,287
• UK: £287,506

Annual growth to February

• South Lanarkshire: +3%
• Scotland: +1%
• UK: +5.5%

Best and worst annual growth in Scotland

• The Shetland Islands: +24.5%
• Aberdeen: -6.6%