South Lanarkshire house prices dropped slightly in December

House prices dropped slightly, by 0.8%, in South Lanarkshire in December, new figures show.

But the drop does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 7.3% over the last year.

The average South Lanarkshire house price in December was £165,918, Land Registry figures show – a 0.8% decrease on November.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across Scotland, where prices decreased 2.9%, but South Lanarkshire was lower than the 0.4% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in South Lanarkshire rose by £11,000 – putting the area 17th 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 17.7%, to £222,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Aberdeen lost 4% of their value, giving an average price of £139,000.

The average UK house price was £294,000 in December 2022, which was £26,000 higher than 12 months earlier.

It meant prices increased by 9.8% annually in December, slowing from 10.6% annual growth in November, according to the Office for National Statistics.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in South Lanarkshire spent an average of £128,600 on their property – £8,000 more than a year ago, and £29,900 more than in December 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £204,000 on average in December – 58.6% more than first-time buyers.

Property types

Owners of flats saw the biggest fall in property prices South Lanarkshire in December – they dropped 1.2% in price, to £92,106 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 3.3%.

Among other types of property:

Detached: down 0.3% monthly; up 9.9% annually; £332,973 averageSemi-detached: down 0.6% monthly; up 8.8% annually; £189,424 averageTerraced: down 0.9% monthly; up 8% annually; £135,175 average

How do property prices in South Lanarkshire compare?

Buyers paid 11.4% less than the average price in Scotland (£187,000) in December for a property in South Lanarkshire. Across Scotland, property prices are lower than those across the UK, where the average cost £294,000.

The most expensive properties in Scotland were in Edinburgh – £330,000 on average, and twice as much as more than in South Lanarkshire. Edinburgh properties cost 2.6 times as much as homes in Inverclyde (£125,000 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 December

South Lanarkshire: £165,918Scotland:£187,224UK: £294,329

Annual growth to December

South Lanarkshire: +7.3%Scotland: +5.7%UK: +9.8%

Highest and lowest annual growth in Scotland

The Orkney Islands: +17.7%Aberdeen: -4%