Falkirk house prices increased in December, new figures show

The rise contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 11.5 per cent over the last year. The average Falkirk house price in December was £169,187, Land Registry figures show – a 0.4 per cent increase on November.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across Scotland, where prices decreased 2.9 per cent, and Falkirk was above the 0.4 per cent drop for the UK as a whole. Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Falkirk rose by £17,000 – putting the area fifth 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 per cent, to £222,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in Aberdeen lost four per cent 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.

First-time buyers in Falkirk spent an average of £139,000 on their property – £14,000 more than a year ago, and £40,000 more than in December 2017. By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £203,000 on average in December – 46.4 per cent more than first-time buyers.

Owners of detached houses saw the biggest rise in property prices in Falkirk in December – they increased 0.7 per cent, to £326,732 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 13.3 per cent. Buyers paid 9.6% less than the average price in Scotland (£187,000) in December for a property in Falkirk. 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 1.9 times as much as more than in Falkirk. 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.