Fife house sales: 2.6% rise in prices as region out-performs UK

The boost contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the Kingdom achieve 12.2% annual growth.

It remains a sellers’ market with a number of properties going for well over the asking price.

The average house price in May was £150,388, Land Registry figures show – a 2.6% increase on April.

Over the month, the picture was less good than that across Scotland, where prices went up 5.4%, but Fife still outperformed the 0.9% rise for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in the region rose by £16,000 – putting the area 14th among Scotland’s 32 local authorities for annual growth.

Owners of terraced houses saw the biggest improvement in property prices – up 2.8%, to £123,951 on average.

Over the last year, prices rose by 13.4%.

Among other types of property:

Detached: up 2.3% monthly; up 13.3% annually; £273,536 average

Semi-detached: up 2.5% monthly; up 12.2% annually; £157,021 average

Flats: up 2.7% monthly; up 9.7% annually; £91,984 average

First steps on the property ladder:

First-time buyers spent an average of £120,000 on their property – £13,000 more than a year ago, and £21,000 more than in May 2016.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £179,000 on average in May – 48.3% more than first-time buyers.

Buyers paid 12.3% less than the average price in Scotland (£171,000) in May for a property in Fife.

Properties in Edinburgh were £300,000 on average - twice as much as in Fife.

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