South Lanarkshire house prices dropped slightly in April

House prices dropped slightly, by 0.2%, in South Lanarkshire in April, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 13.3% over the last year.

An imbalance between supply and demand for properties has remained the primary reason behind climbing house prices across the UK throughout the pandemic.

The need for larger deposits and constraints on accessing mortgages have pushed homeownership further out of reach for many first-time buyers – despite Government figures showing 50% of renters would be able to afford the monthly payments.

In a recent major speech in Blackpool, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a “comprehensive review” of the mortgage market would take place in a bid to help more people onto the property ladder.

The average South Lanarkshire house price in April was £157,867, Land Registry figures show – a 0.2% decrease on March.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across Scotland, where prices increased 3%, and South Lanarkshire was lower than the 1.1% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in South Lanarkshire rose by £19,000 – putting the area 15th among Scotland’s 32 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in the Orkney Islands, where property prices increased on average by 34.3%, to £221,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in the Shetland Islands lost 0.6% of their value, giving an average price of £188,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in South Lanarkshire spent an average of £122,000 on their property – £13,000 more than a year ago, and £28,000 more than in April 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £194,000 on average in April – 59.3% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of flats saw the biggest fall in property prices South Lanarkshire in April – they dropped 0.8% in price, to £88,522 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 8.7%.

Among other types of property:

Detached: up 0.4% monthly; up 18.5% annually; £317,700 averageSemi-detached: down 0% monthly; up 15.1% annually; £179,471 averageTerraced: down 0.1% monthly; up 11.9% annually; £127,130 average

How do property prices in South Lanarkshire compare?

Buyers paid 16% less than the average price in Scotland (£188,000) in April for a property in South Lanarkshire. Across Scotland, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £281,000.

The most expensive properties in Scotland were in Edinburgh – £325,000 on average, and 2.1 times as much as more than in South Lanarkshire. Edinburgh properties cost 2.9 times as much as homes in Inverclyde (£111,000 average), at the other end of the scale.

The highest property prices across the UK were in Kensington and Chelsea.

Factfile

Average property price in April

South Lanarkshire: £157,867Scotland:£187,954UK: £281,161

Annual growth to April

South Lanarkshire: +13.3%Scotland: +16.2%UK: +12.4%

Highest and lowest annual growth in Scotland

The Orkney Islands: +34.3%The Shetland Islands: -0.6%