Moray house prices soar over 10% in a year as buyers flock to popular area

A Scottish local authority has been named as one of the areas in the UK where house prices increased the most over the last year.

According to data from Halifax, more than 70 local authority areas around the UK have seen property prices rise over the past 12 months, with Moray in Scotland ranking third overall.

House prices have risen by 10.7% in the local authority area, which is largely rural, with a wide range of golf courses and distilleries, and takes in part of the Cairngorms National Park.

The increase in property prices in Moray was beaten only by Powys in Wales, where house prices increased by 17.4%, and East Lindsey in the East Midlands, where house prices rose by 13.3%.

The data was taken from the Halifax House Price Index, which examined prices in more than 300 local authority areas across the UK in the three months to September this year, comparing them with the same three-month period in 2022.

Including Moray, there were a total of 10 Scottish local authority areas where housing prices rose in the last year.

In order, they are Renfrewshire (up 4.5%), Falkirk (up 3.5%), East Renfrewshire (unchanged at 3.3%), Fife (up 2.5%), Midlothian (up 0.8%), Aberdeen (up 0.7%), East Ayrshire (up 0.5%), Stirling (up 0.4%) and West Lothian (up 0.2%).

Graham Blair, mortgages director at the Bank of Scotland, said: “House prices in Scotland have proven to be more resilient than many other parts of the UK over the last year, down by less than 1%.

“Of course the performance of the housing market varies greatly in individual areas across the country, and there are a number of locations which have bucked the national trend of falling house prices.

“In total there are 10 places in Scotland where prices have risen in 2023.

“This can happen for a variety of reasons, from the number of properties being advertised for sale, to a spike in demand among buyers locally.”

He added: “Top of the list is Moray, with its wealth of coastal and rural dwellings, where average prices are up by more than 10%.”