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Scottish Property Prices Continue to Rise, Albeit Slowly

Powered by luxury sales, prices in Edinburgh specifically have soared

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Edinburgh, Scotland

Westend61/Getty Images
Edinburgh, Scotland
Westend61/Getty Images

Scotland's real estate market logged marginal price growth in April, but the pace at which values increased turned sluggish, according to a report Friday from real estate agency Your Move and property consultants Acadata.

Monthly price growth in the country slowed to 0.3% in April, a decrease from the 0.9% logged in March and 1.7% growth seen in February.

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Annual price growth slowed too, from 7.8% in March to 6.9% in April, bringing the average property price to £183,994 (US$244,006).

Despite the slowdown, Scotland's prices are still growing faster annually than the rest of the U.K., where prices grew 2.1% in England, 4.2% in Northern Ireland and 5.2% in Wales over the same time frame, the report said,

"Price growth in Scotland has come off the boil a little, but it had to for it to be sustainable," said Alan Penman, business development manager for chartered surveyors Walker Fraser Steele, in the report. Though in Edinburgh, prices power on, Mr. Penman added, providing a strong foundation for the market.

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While price growth has slowed across Scotland, growth has accelerated in the capital. In April, the city logged annual price growth of 15.6%, bested only by the 15.7% annual price growth logged in neighboring Midlothian. The average property in Edinburgh is now worth £290,956 (US$385,796), the highest in the country, according to the report.

A significant amount of Edinburgh’s annual growth is being driven by the luxury market, the report said. The number of sales of property priced at more than £750,000 (US$994,800) grew 160% in the first quarter of the year, growing to 65 transactions from just 25 in the same period last year.