House prices in Fife: slight drop in prices, but long-term trend is positive

But the 0.1% dip does not reverse the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the Kingdom grow by 3.7% over the last year.

Land Registry figures show the average Fife house price in September was £179,894, – narrowly down on August. Over the month, the picture was similar to that across Scotland, where prices decreased 0.2%. Fife was above the 0.5% drop for the UK as a whole. Over the last year, the average sale price of property in the Kingdom rose by £6400 – putting the area sixth among Scotland’s 32 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

First-time buyers spent an average of £142,900 – £4,100 more than a year ago, and £34,500 more than in September 2018. By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £215,500 on average in September – 50.8% more than first-time buyers. Owners of flats saw the biggest fall in September – down 0.5% in price, to £106,383 on average - but over the last year, prices rose by 2.3%. Detached property went up 1% monthly and 6.4% annually for a £337,756 average. Semi-detached properties dropped 0.1% for an average sale price of £190,377.

Buyers in Fife also paid 7.9% less than the average price in Scotland -£195,000 - in September. The most expensive properties in Scotland were in East Lothian – £348,000 on average, and 1.9 times the price as in Fife. East Lothian properties cost 2.7 times the price as homes in North Ayrshire (£127,000 average), at the other end of the scale.