Fife house prices: December drop but long-term trend remains positive

But that did not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 5.3% over the last year.

The average Fife house price in December was £173,968, Land Registry figures show – a 0.4% decrease on November.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across Scotland, where prices decreased 2.9%.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Fife rose by £8,800 – putting the area 22nd among Scotland’s 32 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

First-time buyers spent an average of £138,100 on their property – £6,200 more than a year ago, and £34,000 more than in December 2017.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £208,400 on average – 50.9% more than first-time buyers.

Owners of flats saw the biggest fall in property prices – they dropped 0.7% in price, to £101,796 on average. But over the last year, prices rose by 1.7%.

Detached properties were down 0% monthly; up 7.2% annually, for a £327,197 average; Semi-detached: down 0.3% monthly; up 6.3% annually; £184,499 average; Terraced: down 0.4% monthly; up 6.2% annually; £143,038 average.

Buyers in Fife paid 7.1% less than the average price in Scotland (£187,000) in December.

The most expensive properties were in Edinburgh – £330,000 on average, and 1.9 times more than in Fife.