Scottish house prices rising at four times UK rate

Average house prices in Scotland have increased at four times the rate of the UK as a whole, data shows.

Registers of Scotland (RoS) said the 4.5 per cent year-on-year uplift in Scotland took the average price for a home north of the border to £190,000. It compares with a 1.1 per cent rise for the UK as whole, where average prices reached £281,000.

In England the increase was 0.6 per cent to £298,000. London, where prices fell 3.9 per cent to £502,000, was the poorest performer.

In Wales, the average growth was 0.4 per cent to £208,000 compared with April last year. Data for Northern Ireland is only published quarterly.

Prices in Scotland have generally held up better than in Wales and many English