Midlothian house prices increased in September

The average Midlothian house price in September was £241,645.

The rise contributes to the longer-term trend, which has seen property prices in the area grow by 2.4% over the last year.

The average Midlothian house price in September was £241,645, Land Registry figures show – a 4% increase on August.

Over the month, the picture was different to that across Scotland, where prices decreased 0.2%, and Midlothian was above the 0.5% drop for the UK as a whole.

Over the last year, the average sale price of property in Midlothian rose by £5,600 – putting the area ninth among Scotland’s 32 local authorities with price data for annual growth.

The highest annual growth in the region was in East Lothian, where property prices increased on average by 15.2%, to £348,000. At the other end of the scale, properties in the Orkney Islands lost 8.4% of their value, giving an average price of £196,000.

First steps on the property ladder

First-time buyers in Midlothian spent an average of £197,500 on their property – £1,200 more than a year ago, and £42,900 more than in September 2018.

By comparison, former owner-occupiers paid £286,800 on average in September – 45.2% more than first-time buyers.Owners of detached houses saw the biggest rise in property prices in Midlothian in September – they increased 5.6%, to £469,465 on average. Over the last year, prices rose by 7.9%. Among other types of property:

Semi-detached: up 3.9% monthly; up 2.8% annually; £263,294 average

Terraced: up 3.2% monthly; down 0.3% annually; £198,707 average

Flats: up 3% monthly; down 1.5% annually; £138,040 average

Buyers paid 23.7% more than the average price in Scotland (£195,000) in September for a property in Midlothian. Across Scotland, property prices are low compared to those across the UK, where the average cost is £291,000. The most expensive properties in Scotland were in East Lothian – £348,000 on average, and 1.4 times the price as in Midlothian.