HOUSE prices in West Dunbartonshire are continuing to rise despite financial woes caused by the cost-of-living crisis, latest figures show.

According to the UK House Price Index, average property values in the local authority rose by 5 per cent between October 2021 and the same month in 2022.

The average value of a home in the region in October was £137,515 – up by £6,521 compared to a figure of £130,994 a year earlier.

That left the area ranked 27th among Scotland’s 32 local authority areas for average values, with only North Lanarkshire, the Western Isles, East Ayrshire, Inverclyde and North Ayrshire with a lower average value.
Prices in Scotland as a whole rose by 8.5 per cent to an average of £194,874.

The most expensive council area to buy a property was Edinburgh City, where prices rose 6.5 per cent to an average of £335,199.

The cheapest place to snap up a property in Scotland was North Ayrshire, where the average price was just £119,513.

Next door to West Dunbartonshire, Argyll and Bute rose higher than anywhere else on the Scottish mainland year-on-year.

The average value of a home in Argyll and Bute in October was £202,367 – up by £35,506 compared to a figure of £166,861 a year earlier, a percentage increase of 21.3 per cent.

The Western Isles were the only place to have a higher rise in the 12 months to October this year, with a massive jump of 37.90 per cent in property value.

However, the figures also show that the volume of sales in West Dunbartonshire dropped year-on-year – from 124 in the year to August 2021 to 109 in the 12 months to August this year.

Of that 109 number, 38 were cash purchases with 71 being mortgage purchased.

Sales volumes across Scotland as a whole fell from 10,003 to 9,310 year-on-year.

A spokesperson for Registers of Scotland said: “In Scotland, detached houses showed the largest annual percentage change out of all property types, increasing by 10.7 per cent in the year to October 2022 to 
£356,000.

“Flats and maisonettes showed the lowest annual percentage change, which increased by 5.5 per cent in the year to October 2022 to an average price of £131,000.”